Where I Belong
by DarkFlame Alchemist
Summary: "Bookmen have long forgotten the true meaning of why we don't need hearts, even I have. We do not simply discard them, but give our hearts to someone we truly trust." "Bookman, what are you saying?" "Take care of Lavi's heart, Kurai Uchiha." LavixOC
1. Memory or a Dream?

**Chapter 1: A Memory or a Dream?**

**So… dear readers old and new, welcome to the main D-Grayman story, not a one-shot, not a short story, the MAIN D-Grayman story that I'm writing. I would love to just write the last two chapters, but sadly… that's going to take a while with the number of chapters I have in mind T.T If only there was some way to play through something in your mind and have it magically written down in paper…**

**Here's a summary of the story:**

Kurai Uchiha is the accommodator of the Sacred Daggers and an exorcist of the European Branch of the Black Order. She grew up in the Asian Branch where she met Kanda and Alma, her first friends. A tragedy that she has no recollection of occurred that took the lives of the laboratory staff members and the woman who raised her. What's worse, she doesn't know if Alma died during the massacre or if he's still alive somewhere. As she comes to terms with her new life as a fully-fledged exorcist, will she ever get over her past and also find out a dark secret related to her birth?

**Anyways, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Dark-Flame Alchemist doesn't own D-Grayman except her OC**

* * *

A young girl ran through the hallways of laboratory six of the Asian Branch headquarters for the Black Order. Her crimson eyes searched in every direction she passed, looking for anybody she could find, but more specifically, her friends.

"Alma! Yu! Where are you?" she cried out while speeding down the corridors with nobody in plain sight.

'_Where is everybody?' _she wondered as her small figure swiftly turned a corner, her ebony locks swishing to each side from the flow of the wind passing by her.

She finally saw the doors that she was headed for and immediately stopped in front of them. Grasping her hands on the door knobs, she rotated the contraptions and pulled the heavy doors back to allow her entrance into the room with the womb chambers.

The moment she stepped in, her eyes widened with shock and horror. Feeling nauseous and sick from the gory sight before her, she hastily covered her mouth and nose to prevent herself from throwing up.

Crimson blood was painted and splattered in every section of the vast area, no matter where her eyes turned.

Disfigured bodies, separated, torn limbs and revolting guts were spread all across the room in a disjunctive manner.

The waters of the womb chambers were now as red as the blood that contaminated them.

With her expression frozen from the morbid scene, she slowly fell down to her knees, not believing what she was seeing. She then took a good look at all the lifeless faces of the staff members, including the branch chief and her husband – the Chang couple.

What made her heart cringe even more was the bloody corpse of the woman who raised her, Miko Uchiha. She was held up in midair with the tip of a long-sharpened weapon protruding through her chest. The worst part was… the bladed weapon was connected to the person standing in the middle of the room – Alma – the first friend she ever had.

He had his back to her, not noticing her presence in the room as he pulled his weapon out of the dead body and let it drop onto the ground ungracefully. The small boy turned around, now facing her with a shocked look which immediately softened, "Kurai… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to kill her, but she was in my way."

Tears fell down her face before she squeezed her eyes shut. Clenching her fists tightly, she screamed, "No, this can't be happening! Alma why? Why did you do this? I thought we were just supposed to escape with Yu? Why did you have to go this far? Why? WWWWHHHHYYYY?"

~…~

Kurai jolted up from her bed, panting heavily before realizing that she was safe and sound in her room and it was still the middle of the night – she was only dreaming. Her head slumped down in relief as she wiped the sweat away from her forehead.

After letting out a deep breath, she finally noticed that she wasn't alone and turned her head to gaze at her master, General Kevin Yeegar, the oldest exorcist that the Black Order had. His face was calm, yet concerned for her well-being.

The old man soon leaned forward from his chair and with his right hand, rubbed her back to comfort her, "You're having those nightmares again, I see."

Kurai stared back down before nodding her head, "They're not as frequent as they were before, but I still can't remember what they're about as soon as I wake up. It's frustrating as usual." She frowned which the general thought was cute.

He smiled and patted her head this time while chuckling, "I'll definitely miss you when I drop you off at the Order tomorrow. You'll finally become a fully-fledged exorcist at the age of twelve. I even heard your friend Kanda has already joined not too long ago." This information made the young girl cheerful inside to know that her dear friend was doing well.

General Yeegar pushed himself up and sighed happily, "These long two years of mentoring you were nice for an old man like me. It's been a while since I've taught children your age and I'm glad that I had the opportunity. You were so quiet and reserved the first time we met. You still are, but not as bad now. Still, you should be able to fit in with the newly run headquarters of the European branch, seeing how the new branch chief is far more welcoming than the former one."

He was then lost in thought for a bit before nodding, "Yes, there is no doubt that you'll make a great exorcist and get along with your comrades. May you sleep well now, my apprentice… tomorrow is a big day for you." With that, he turned around and headed for the door. With nothing else to say, he left the room, closing the door behind him.

Once he left, Kurai pondered if she really was going to feel comfortable living in headquarters, pondered what her new life was going to be like and also, she pondered if she was ever going to get over her past and finally be rid of her dreaded nightmares. All her thoughts and doubts were overwhelming her at the moment.

The only thing she was certain of, though, was that she would be reunited again with Yu, her dear friend as well as her new one, Lenalee. Kurai then patted her cheeks, assuring herself that everything was going to be fine.

Soon, she rested herself back on her bed and shut her eyes, awaiting for the new day to arise.

* * *

**There you go! Hope you like it so far! :D Sorry for the shortness!**

**Sadly, this will be slowly updated because I still have my other story to finish, the Kaze no Stigma one. It's almost done so hopefully I can whip up the remaining chapters so I can fully work on this one!**

**Please Review! :D They're very much appreciated!**


	2. Becoming An Exorcist

**Chapter 2: Becoming an Exorcist**

**Next chapter up! :D Not sure if I made any of the canon characters a little OOC so let me know and I'll try to fix it if I really need to. **

**Thanks to akkichan1, VivaciousWolf245 and IvoryMoonlight for reviewing! :D Glad you find this interesting so far!**

**Hope you enjoy and don't find this boring! ^_^ (If you do, then I'm sorry T.T)**

**Disclaimer: Dark-Flame Alchemist doesn't own D-Grayman except her OC**

* * *

The anxious twelve-year old and her general waited patiently for the arrival of the new branch head of the European branch of the Black Order.

They were sitting on a couch in the office with a desk across from them that was filled with stacks of paperwork.

"He sure is busy… either that or he's just plain lazy," Kurai commented on her observation, comfortable expressing her opinion to her mentor.

General Yeegar chuckled, "Now my student, that's not nice. He really is a good man."

She let out a sigh, "Sorry Master." The old man just smiled and patted her head as they continued to wait.

Not too long after, a Chinese man wearing a scientist coat, hat and glasses came in, "Good afternoon, you two. Sorry I'm late," he greeted while striding towards his desk and sitting down on his chair. He moved a stack to one side so that he could face the two properly.

"That's quite all right, Komui. Kurai is going to be living here after all so there's no need to rush things," the general stated, "Say hello, Kurai."

She bowed her head in respect, "It's nice to meet you, sir. I'll be looking forward to staying here."

The new branch head smiled, looking at the timid girl, "That's right. You recommended this young lady to be a full-time exorcist. Another one her age just joined a few weeks ago. Plus, my little sister has been here for a while too."

"Wait, you're Lenalee's brother?" she asked, thinking that she did see a resemblance to Lenalee, but wasn't sure.

He nodded, "I am. My name is Komui Lee. The staff and I are excited to have you join our ranks, especially with the few exorcists we have at the moment."

Afterwards, he and General Yeegar began to converse about her living arrangements and other necessary information that the general needed to know to assure Kurai would be safe in headquarters.

A smile formed on Kurai's face. This was the first time she met this man and she was already happy with him unlike the previous branch head who was just plain mean and scary. She was glad that she and Kanda were only at the headquarters for a brief time before they went to study under their generals, but she felt sorry for Lenalee who had to stay behind. She still did to this day, but felt relieved to know her brother was here for her now.

"So, if that's all you needed general, you can leave now if you want while I have her synchronization rate checked out. She'll also need some tests taken," Komui stated.

Before the general could answer, a voice cut him off, "Brother, I brought your coffee. You left it behind in the other room."

Kurai and General Yeegar's heads turned to see a turquoise-haired girl with a coffee mug in her hand. She was wearing what Kurai assumed was the exorcist uniform, consisting of a long-sleeved blue jacket with the Black Order symbol and white trimmings, a matching skirt with visible shorts underneath and knee-high boots. She recognized that the girl before her was Lenalee who was shocked to see Kurai. They didn't say anything and only stared at each other.

"Oh my sweet sister! You're so kind! Bringing your big brother his forgotten coffee! Can I hug you, please?" Komui looked like he was restraining himself from doing something he'll probably regret. Lenalee and Kurai had sweat drops on their heads from Komui's behavior while the general didn't say a word.

Kurai's view of the new branch head had now gone from a respected leader to a weirdo with a sister complex.

"Oh brother, stop being so embarrassing…" Lenalee complained while walking over to the desk to place down the coffee. She then smiled at the other girl, "Good to see you again, Kurai."

Kurai nodded and smiled back, "You too, Lenalee."

Komui couldn't hold it anymore and hugged his sister, crying, "Lenalee! I'm so glad that you finally reunited with your friend again!"

"Brother, stop it!" she then tried to pry him off, but he wouldn't budge.

The crimson-eyed girl frowned at the sight as her master shook his head, "Well, I think my work here is done. I really should be heading back now anyway." He then stood up and faced Kurai, "I expect to hear great things from you. When we see each other again, hopefully it will be in battle."

Kurai did something that she never did before – she threw her arms around General Yeegar and gave him a hug, "Thank you. I'm glad I had you as a teacher. I'll make you proud."

He patted her head, "You already have. Goodbye exorcist Kurai." After they broke their hug, he smiled at her one last time before leaving the office. Kurai was now on her own with no more mentors to guide her.

Komui finally calmed down and adjusted himself on his seat while Lenalee dusted off her skirt. He then realized that somebody was missing in the room, "Hey, where's General Yeegar?"

"He already left, but you were too busy to even notice," Kurai told him.

"Oh… my bad. Well, let's go see Hevlaska then, shall we?" he informed her before handing sheets of papers to Lenalee, "Can you give this to Reever before meeting up with us?"

Lenalee took the papers from her brother's hand, "Sure, Brother. I'll see you both in a few then." She then gave Kurai another smile before leaving the room with Komui and Kurai left.

Komui then stood up with Kurai doing the same, "Ok, let's get going."

~…~

Komui made Kurai take some tests to get the details of her speed, strength and agility.

Once they finished, she waited in a room for Komui to come back with the results. Eventually, he arrived, "Your skills are impressive, I have to say. You were taught well. Now we just need to go check your synchronization rate."

He left the room with Kurai following behind him. They walked onto a platform where Komui shut the gate behind him and pushed a lever to make the platform rise up.

He stopped it and stayed in place, not doing anything.

"Are we waiting for someone?" she asked curiously, not knowing what was going on.

"Hevlaska," he said simply, "Don't get scared though; she won't hurt you."

Kurai didn't question him any further, just waiting for something to happen.

Soon enough, a tall, immense humanoid-like creature spiraled up in front of them. Kurai was amazed, never having seen anything like it before. Although, she wasn't sure if the creature was looking at her since there were no eyes visible. There were tentacle-like arms all over the body that were floating around too.

"Kurai, meet Hevlaska. She is an exorcist as well as the guardian of this branch for the last hundred years. Hevlaska, this is Kurai, the new exorcist that just joined us. She is the accommodator of the Sacred Daggers," Komui formerly introduced.

"It's nice to meet you, Kurai… I was looking forward to our meeting ever since I felt the arrival of your presence…," Hevlaska spoke in a slow manner.

"You too…" Kurai managed to say while she was still amazed with the unique-looking exorcist, "You're really tall, by the way."

Komui and even Hevlaska chuckled at the child's astonishment before he cleared his throat, "Okay, have Kurai's synchronization rate checked please."

Immediately, two of Hevlaska's tentacles rushed toward Kurai and wrapped around her, raising her up from the lift. She suddenly got scared.

"Just calm down Kurai; remember what I told you," Komui assured her.

Kurai did as she was told and stayed as still as possible without trying to freak out. Hevlaska's body glowed brightly.

"Eighty-eight percent," Hevlaska concluded before gently letting Kurai go back on the platform, "Unusually high for a girl her age, even the other boy's rate was at eighty-two percent."

"It's to be expected since she received her innocence at the age of eight and has been training with them ever since," Komui mentioned while writing some things down on his clipboard.

Kurai raised her eyebrow after fixing up her shirt, "Just how much do you know about me?"

"Besides the time you received your innocence, you grew up in the Asian branch with Kanda, your birthday is December 6th and you were raised by your mentor, Miko Uchiha, an exorcist of the Asian branch who died in the accident that you survived in…," he stopped himself from continuing and looked at the young girl who's eyes hardened a little, "I'm sorry… I shouldn't have mentioned the touchy subject."

"It's fine. Can we just get going please," she requested while crossing her arms.

"Of course," he told her before reaching the lever, "Goodbye Hevlaska. I'll see you later."

"Very well then, Komui... Oh and Kurai…"

The said girl looked up at her, "Yes?"

"I have seen your future... There will be obstacles that you need to overcome... but you'll get through them... and in the end... you'll find what you've been searching for...," Hevlaska predicted.

She sighed, "That's what everyone else would say… that I'll get through them, but what if I don't?"

"I assure you of what your future holds… You just need to stay strong and trust yourself…," Hevlaska added.

Kurai smiled and bowed, "Thank you Hevlaska, I hope you're right."

The hundred-year old exorcist gave a nod before disappearing down out of sight.

~…~

"I'm glad you stood your ground with her, unlike Kanda who almost sliced her up when she entangled him," Komui frowned as they walked along the hallway.

Kurai giggled a little, "Sounds like Kanda to me."

"Hey, you finally laughed."

She became embarrassed and looked away.

"Don't be all nervous. It just shows me that you'll do fine here," he guaranteed.

"Thanks… I still think you're weird though," Kurai bluntly stated, causing him to cry, exclaiming how he just loves his dear sister and why people think that's not normal.

"Brother, you're so loud! I was able to hear you from this very spot!" Lenalee scolded as the two entered his office. She was sitting on a chair next to his desk, apparently waiting for them.

"B-but Lenalee!" he sobbed, going to a corner.

Kurai shook her head, "That's some brother of yours…"

"Indeed," Lenalee agreed while massaging her temples.

As the young exorcist took her seat on the couch again, another person walked in the room, "Hey, you're the new branch head, right?" he asked the crying man.

Kurai took a good look at the person, recognizing his uniform as a general's since her master had the same gold trimmings with a black coat. He was tall and possessed red hair with a hat on top of his head. Plus, he had a mask that covered the right side of his face, making him mysterious.

Komui immediately stood up straight and composed himself as he went back to his desk, "Sorry about that and yes, I am Komui Lee, the new branch head of this headquarters." He was now all serious while talking to the high-ranking exorcist in his presence.

The man smirked, "Good. You seem like a better one than that other guy who was so annoying. The name's Cross Marian, by the way, and I'm just here to give in a report," he said before placing some papers on the desk.

After knowing his name, Komui seemed to recognize who he was right away, "So you're the notorious general I heard about who keeps disappearing all the time. I should consider myself lucky that you stopped by. I take it that you'll be leaving again as soon as you're done with your business?"

General Cross nodded, "Have another long mission to do right away," he responded before noticing the two young girls in the room, "Now who do we have here?"

"This here is Lenalee, my sister and that over there is Kurai Uchiha. They are both exorcists of the Order," Komui told him.

"Uchiha, huh?" Cross whispered before taking a good look at Kurai, then to Lenalee. He tipped his hat to them and smiled, "Hello ladies."

"Hello to you to, general," Kurai and Lenalee greeted simultaneously with the latter curtsying and the former bowing her head in respect.

He chuckled at their good manners, "They'll definitely be fine women one day…"

Komui gritted his teeth, not liking the general one bit, "I also heard that you can be quite the womanizer… so I would appreciate it if you didn't get near either of them, especially my darling sister."

"We'll see when they get older," he grinned, saying his goodbyes before leaving the office.

Komui sighed, "That's probably going to be the first and last time I see him."

"Brother, what's a womanizer?" Lenalee asked him, not knowing the meaning.

"Maybe it's like what your brother does, only worse," Kurai declared from her observation of both men's behaviors.

The branch head blushed before yelling, "I do not have a problem and please don't compare me to that guy of all people!" He then turned to his sister, "Lenalee, shouldn't you be showing her to her room already? The poor girl needs her rest."

Kurai huffed, "I do not…"

Before Lenalee could say anything, Komui lightly pushed her and also Kurai out of his office, slamming the door shut.

They then headed to her new room which was in the same floor as Lenalee's. The small area consisted of a bed, closet, desk and bedside drawer with a lamp. On her new bed laid a box which had some possessions and a few sets of clothes and pajamas that she brought with her. She knew she didn't need much since she was just going to wear a uniform most of the time, but she still wanted some casual clothing. They were mostly like what she was wearing at the moment – black pants, a long-sleeved red shirt and knee-high boots – except they were different styles. Also, her cloak that she previously wore when they got to headquarters was now in her new closet since she didn't need it yet.

Lenalee helped Kurai unpack and put everything away before the older girl was hungry so they went to go eat.

"I'm sorry about my brother. I think it's because we were away from each other for so long that he acts like that," Lenalee apologized to Kurai as they walked down the stairs to another hallway, intending to go to the cafeteria.

"There's no need to apologize. To tell you the truth, I prefer him over the other branch head. I really should be the one saying sorry for leaving you though," Kurai sadly replied before a hand rested on her shoulder. She turned her head to see Lenalee smiling at her, "You're here now and that's what matters. I also think we're both doing much better than before, don't you think? You're becoming more social from when we last saw each other."

Kurai nodded, "You're right… and you also look happier."

"I really am," the teal-haired girl beamed as she removed her hand from her friend's shoulder and they continued to walk.

"By the way, how's Kanda doing? Is he nicer now?" Kurai asked curiously.

"Kanda's still Kanda," Lenalee told her.

She pouted, "Oh come on! You're too nice! Just say that Kanda's being a pompous, arrogant brat!"

"What the hell? Who's talking about me?"

Lenalee and Kurai looked forward to see the familiar, scowling face of a certain Japanese boy with dark hair that was held up in a ponytail. He was wearing an exorcist coat that was long-sleeved and went down to his knees along with black pants, boots and his sheathed sword held up on his waist by a belt. It was Kanda Yu.

He walked until he was in front of them. His eyes widened when he recognized Kurai before a scowl was replaced once more, "Oh great, it's _you_. I had a weird feeling all afternoon that you were around and hoped I was just getting a cold."

Kurai snorted from his rudeness, "I don't see you for a few years and this is how you greet me? By the way, Yu is _your_ name, remember?" she mocked him.

He growled, "You know I don't like being called that, boke (knucklehead)! Why are you here anyway?"

"You're as rude as ever, sakana (fish). I'm officially an exorcist now, thank you very much," she explained to him before running a hand through her hair, "I can't believe I actually missed you… and here I was excited to actually go on missions with you."

"Che, fighting akuma is dangerous, you know. I would rather you stay here at headquarters where it's safer since it'll be a pain to watch over you," Kanda claimed.

"I beg to differ! Do I need to remind you that I've had more experience than you in the field? Far longer than you have?" she declared.

Kanda had nothing to say back, knowing she was right, so he just glared at her while she did the same. They made it seem like they were in a staring contest to see who was going to drop dead first from the stares.

Lenalee decided to stop the bickering and separated them from each other, "Now, now you two. Let's just go down to the cafeteria and eat some lunch." She didn't wait for a response from either of them, just pushing their backs with her in between them.

~…~

They finally made it to the cafeteria with a few people around, mostly finders who were sitting together in some tables.

Lenalee led the two to an open counter where the kitchen could be seen behind. Out of nowhere, the chef popped out. He had black hair that was braided up, dark skin and he also wore sunglasses, although he was indoors.

"Lenalee, my favorite girl! How are you today?" he asked her, all happy.

She curtsied, "Very well, Jeryy."

He clapped his hands, "Just like I taught you! I'm so proud!" he wiped a tear drop that fell down his eye. Kurai and Kanda just blinked at the interaction between the two, not saying a word.

"Thank you," Lenalee smiled before gesturing her hand towards her friends, "This is Kurai, the new exorcist joining us and you know Kanda."

Jeryy gave a nod to Kanda before facing Kurai and going into a gentleman-like pose, "It's nice to meet you, my dear. I'm Jeryy, the head chef. Feel free to ask for whatever food you want!"

Although she became a little shy, Kurai bowed her head in respect, "I'm pleased to meet you too, sir."

The chef became all cheerful, "So polite! I'll make you something special! What would you like to eat?"

She gave it a thought before deciding on what she wanted, "Soba noodles please."

"Coming right up! And please just call me Jeryy! Sir makes me feel old…," he told her before looking at the other two kids, "and how about you Lenalee? Kanda? What would you like?" he asked while starting to prepare Kurai's food.

"Not hungry," Kanda immediately stated before leaving, heading for a table.

"Umm, I'll have some of that soup I had yesterday," Lenalee decided.

"Will be done in a jiffy!" he said before going to work. Kurai was amazed at how passionate he was with his cooking. She couldn't help but feel, though, that she had seen the skills and techniques before. They reminded her of the chef from the Asian branch when she was living there. She just shrugged it off and waited for her food.

After a few minutes, their orders were done. Kurai and Lenalee each got their trays and thanked Jeryy for their meals before going to the table where Kanda was just resting his head on the palm of his hand. Kurai sat next to him with Lenalee sitting across from them.

"Kanda, why don't you eat? I've barely seen you do ever since you got here," Lenalee told him.

"Che…" was his reply.

"Leave him be, Lenalee. He's too stubborn," Kurai stated before starting to eat her food with Lenalee doing the same.

Not too long after, she noticed eyes looking at her and saw that Kanda was staring at her food. She looked down at her food, then at Kanda, "You want some?"

Seeing that he was caught, he turned forward and closed his eyes, "Hell no. It looks weird."

Kurai frowned, but smirked all of a sudden, "Hey Kanda, what's that over there, to your right!"

He abruptly opened his eyes and looked in the direction Kurai told him, "Huh? Where?"

Quick as lightning, she stuffed some of her noodles in his mouth.

He got all mad with his full cheeks that made him look like a squirrel, "What the hell? Are you trying to kill me?" he was trying to say with his stuffed mouth.

"Hmmph… just chew and swallow it, sakana," Kurai ordered him while continuing to eat her food, "I don't want you spitting out perfectly good food." Lenalee just shook her head at the two.

Giving up, Kanda did as he was told and slowly ate the food like he was being poisoned. After what seemed like a while, he swallowed it. His eyes became all sparkly and his face looked like he had an epiphany from tasting something so great.

Kurai grinned from his reaction, "You like?"

He got out of his daze and cleared his throat, "It's… all right."

She chuckled at his denial and pushed her tray of food towards him, "Take it then. I already ate enough and there's plenty more."

Without a second thought, Kanda ate the noodles while Lenalee and Kurai were being amused by the scene.

The doors to the cafeteria opened and in came two scientists – one of them had sandy blonde hair that stood up with a slight stubble on his chin while the other had big glasses, headphones on his head and hair that was up in two small puffy pigtails.

"Hello Reever! Johnny! Are you on your break?" asked Lenalee.

The sandy blonde-haired rubbed the back of his neck, "Yeah, your brother is killing us with the work he doesn't do. It's pretty annoying."

"Besides, we wanted to greet the new exorcist and get her measurements for her uniform," the other one replied.

"Well, you're in luck. Here's Kurai," Lenalee stated, pointing at her.

Kurai became all nervous and bowed her head in respect, "Hello."

"So we got another young one again, huh? Hi, my name is Reever. Welcome to the Black Order," he said while shaking her hand.

"Mine is Johnny! I'll be the one to take your measurements and design your uniform!" he smiled before shaking her hand too, "You don't mind if I do it now, do you?"

Kurai seemed hesitant and looked at Lenalee for help – the Chinese girl ushered her friend that everything was going to be okay. Trusting her, she nodded at Johnny, "A-all right."

"Awesome!" he stated before asking her to stand and extend her arms. He then went to work, commenting to himself about the design he was going to do.

While Kurai was trying her best to be as comfortable as possible, she couldn't help but look at each of the faces she encountered that day.

She watched as Kanda continued to eat the soba noodles, enjoying them like a little kid.

Lenalee and Reever were conversing, laughing a bit from talking about her brother. Komui suddenly came in, wondering what was so funny.

Jeryy was cooking a meal for another finder, smiling while doing his job.

She finally saw that Johnny was done with his task, telling her that he'll have the uniform done soon enough before he went to join the conversation between Lenalle, Reever and Komui.

As Kurai went back to her seat, she couldn't help but smile, thinking that her new life wasn't going to be so bad after all. She had familiar friends with her and she felt that, little by little, she was going to be more friendly and comfortable with everyone else as the days go by. She was sure of it.

'_Master was right. I think I'm going to be okay here.'_

* * *

**Like I said, hope you like this so far. Sorry there was no action, but there will be some next chapter! Lavi won't make his appearance for another three chapters while Allen won't appear until about the 20s.**

**Review please! **


	3. Instincts

**Chapter 3: Instincts**

**Finally finished this! Only did a few edits than I normally would so point out any errors if you see any in case I haven't fixed it already. By the way, thank you to sweet-archangel for noticing that _huge_ error that I didn't see in the previous chapter. Komui is definitely not Lenalee's _sister_ xD**

**Anywayz, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Dark-Flame Alchemist doesn't own D-Grayman.**

* * *

"Hey Yu… I've been here for about a week already and there haven't been any missions given yet. What's up with that?" Kurai frowned as she and her friend were walking down the hallway, intending to eat breakfast in the cafeteria.

Kanda snorted, "I'm just as irritated as you are. The only descent thing to do around here when there are no assignments is training and meditating. By the way, stop calling me _Yu _or else!"

She just sighed and closed her eyes, not at all affected by his threat, "Whatever you say."

They finally arrived at their destination. Immediately when Kanda was about to enter the cafeteria, Lenalee burst through the doors. She spread open her arms and pushed herself onto the doors to shut them, preventing anyone from going in.

The two twelve-year-olds could only blink, wondering what was going on with the younger girl.

"Umm, Lenalee? Is something the matter?" Kurai asked her.

Lenalee shook her head quickly, "Nothing's the matter! Repairs are just being done in the kitchen so there's no food being served at the moment and I was told not to let people in the cafeteria."

Kanda wasn't at all pleased, "You can't be serious! How am I supposed to eat my soba noodles now?"

An annoyed Kurai massaged her temples, "Kanda… when I first let you try the soba noodles, I was expecting you to eat them every now and then, _not_ _every day for your three daily servings_," she stressed the last phrase before warning him, "You're going to get fat if you keep that up."

"Che… I train everyday so it's fine. I am _not_ going to get _fat_."

Before Kurai could argue back, thus start another bickering between the two, Lenalee decided to intervene, "Hey! How about we go into town and get some food there! It'll be my treat!"

"You _better _treat us because I'm starving," he scoffed with crossed arms.

"Kanda! Have you no shame? She's younger than us for God's sake and you're letting her _pay_?" Kurai exclaimed in disbelief.

Kanda shrugged, "She's only younger by two years. Besides, she offered."

Lenalee waved her hands around, "It's really all right! Don't worry about it!"

The older girl sighed, "If you're sure then."

"Great, let's go." The impatient, young exorcist started to head off with the girls following him.

~…~

"Of all the places you could have picked, why here?" Kanda complained. He was sitting next to Kurai with Lenalee across from them in the booth they were at. They were currently at a deli somewhere in town, which was chosen by Kurai.

"I heard they had good food here and wanted to try it out," she grinned.

He frowned while checking out the menu, "They don't have soba noodles on this damn list."

Kurai kept her mouth shut, resisting the urge to strangle her stubborn friend for it could very well get them kicked out. She gave Lenalee a pleading look to help her out.

The Chinese girl sighed before looking at Kanda, "Of course they don't have soba noodles here, Kanda. It's not one of their food items."

"Then what am I supposed to eat then?" he retorted.

"Get spaghetti. It's the closest thing to soba noodles," Kurai suggested after calming down.

Lenalee added, "Yeah, you could get it with less sauce if you don't want too much."

"Fine… only because I'm hungry right now," the Japanese boy gave in just as the waitress finally walked over to their table.

"Miss, we're ready to order," Lenalee politely said after looking up from her menu.

The waitress took a good look at the trio before giving them a questioning stare, "Aren't you children too young to be here by yourselves?"

"Who are you calling _children_? I am not a kid!" Kanda lashed out with a scrunched up look on his face. The girls just shook their heads at his behavior since he _was_ a kid.

The waitress held her hands up in defense, "_Excuse me_; wasn't trying to insult you or anything."

"Can we just order our meals please…?" Kurai stated hurriedly, noticing that Kanda's hand was slowly inching towards the handle of his sword.

"Of course, what would you like?" the woman inquired before jotting down whatever Kurai told her, "All righty then. These should be done in fifteen minutes. I'll be back with your drinks."

"Thank you, Miss," Lenalee said before the waitress left.

Once she was gone, Kurai jabbed her elbow into Kanda's stomach.

He cringed, holding his stomach in pain before glaring at her, "What the hell was that for, boke?"

"Are you _trying _to cause a scene and get us kicked out? Honestly, you need to control your temper," she lectured him.

Kanda just growled, muttering to himself at how his temper was fine with Kurai claiming back that it wasn't.

Lenalee just stared back and forth between the two before gigging to herself – the two were friends much longer than she had been with either of them, yet they quarreled a lot. Not to mention, they were also older than her, but she would be the mediator between the two. Just what were their lives like before coming to the European Branch, she wondered. The young girl wasn't complaining though. Never having any experience with friends before, she thought it was… nice.

~…~

After leaving the restaurant, Lenalee decided that they should walk since they just ate. Kurai had no objections to the idea while Kanda had to be talked into it. Thus, they were now striding along a sidewalk, enjoying the fresh air since it was a nice day out.

"I noticed you finished your food, Kanda. Was it as good as soba noodles?" Kurai questioned him while holding her hands together behind her back.

"Che… it was all right, but definitely not better than soba noodles," he replied while crossing his arms, "Besides, I was hungry."

She rolled her eyes, "Of course."

"Hey Kanda, I forgot to ask, how was your last mission anyway? I heard from my brother that something almost went wrong," Lenalee asked randomly.

"Well, it was the damn finder's fault…" Kanda growled while telling his story with Lenalee listening.

Kurai just zoned their conversation out, not feeling like listening. She was mostly enjoying the scenery since hadn't been in that part of town yet.

All of a sudden, she had a strange feeling that someone was watching them, but turned back to find nothing. Searching in other directions, she didn't see anything out of the ordinary either.

Thinking that it was nothing, Kurai just shrugged her shoulders, looking straight ahead again.

"Hey Rai, you want to know something funny?" Lenalee said with a cheeky smile on her face once Kanda was finished speaking.

Kurai smiled at the nickname she hadn't heard in a while before she chuckled, "What?"

"You know when I first met you two long ago, when the Black Order wasn't what it is today?"

She nodded, "Yeah, what of it?"

"To be honest, I thought that you were the prettiest girls that I've ever seen."

"Thank you," Kurai said with a warm smile before she realized what Lenalee was saying. A few seconds later, she was bursting out in laughter, holding her aching stomach.

Kanda, on the other hand, was fuming with his fists clenched, "Why you little!"

"Not my fault you have long hair!" Lenalee laughed before she started to run off with Kanda chasing after her.

Once she was able to breathe, Kurai decided to go after them before someone got hurt.

Before she could, though, she noticed a shadow heading towards her direction from her peripheral vision. Reacting quickly, she jumped far back into an opened alleyway, landing gracefully onto the ground.

Swiftly, she grabbed her innocence, the Sacred Daggers, from their sheaths on her thighs and went into battle position. She was so glad that she brought them with her even though she wasn't expecting any attacks to occur.

Several feet across Kurai was an akuma, which seemed to be a level two due to its unique appearance as well as having the symbol of a level one's face on its forehead. Standing on its two feet, the demon had a canine form with matted fur, pointed fangs, a long snout and razor-sharp claws.

'_This isn't good… what are the odds of finding an akuma, especially a level two, around here,' _she thought anxiously since it was her first time fighting one without a mentor by her side. She kept her cool, though, and eventually smirked, beginning to get excited with the new experience.

The creature let out an evil chuckle, "Well, well. I wasn't expecting to find an exorcist around here, let alone, a younger one. This will be easy. You should consider yourself lucky since you'll be one of the few people I'll have already killed since becoming a level two."

Kurai snorted, "Age doesn't matter. I'm as skilled as any other exorcist."

"Let's find out then, shall we?" Without a second to spare, the akuma charged towards her in a flash.

Surprised with the speed, she wasn't prepared and got smacked several times until she was driven against the wall. Kurai held her aching shoulder briefly before repositioning herself.

"Is that all you got? You couldn't even dodge my first attacks! Just give up now!" the akuma mocked.

"It just took me by surprise, that's all. Don't worry, I won't fall for the same mistake again," she swore, holding her daggers back-handed before shouting, "Innocence activate! Blaze!" Both of her daggers were now glowing bright red.

"Oo, I'm so scared of glowing sticks!"

"Heh, you should be. I'm curious though. What are you doing around here anyway, akuma?" Kurai interrogated.

The akuma cackled, "To be honest, I don't even know! I don't even care at the moment, though, since I'm enjoying this fight so far."

"Don't get cocky now!" Kurai shouted before rapidly swinging her left arm across her body, then her right arm afterwards, unleashing two streams of fire quickly at her target.

The demon tried individually dodging each attack that was coming its way and was able to completely avoid the first one. It was unlucky the second time, getting its left arm severely singed that the arm couldn't be used anymore. What's worse, an explosion followed from the fire streams hitting the wall instead. The akuma quickly moved out of the way, not wanting to get caught in it.

Taking an opportunity at the akuma's distraction, she sent two more fire streams and got the creature both times across the chest before it crashed to the ground on its back. Snarling, the akuma knew that the young exorcist wasn't a force to be reckoned with and had to stop playing around.

Pushing itself back on its feet, the akuma made a dash for Kurai, "I'm going to enjoy ripping you to shreds by the time I'm done with you!"

She continued to look confident and was ready for the creature to come at her when she heard the voices of two familiar people shout at the same time, "Innocence activate!"

Before the akuma could do any harm to the exorcist, it had to avoid different attacks headed for it – one attack had insects while the other was wind. Landing in a safe area, the demon panted, trying to regain its strength with its useless arm.

"Kurai, you all right?"

She turned her head over her shoulder and smiled after seeing Lenalee and Kanda running up to her, "I'm fine."

"Damn boke… I take my eyes off you for a second and you get yourself in trouble," Kanda accused while shaking his head.

"I did not!" Kurai protested, ready to attack him instead while the akuma was recovering.

"Guys, let's not fight now. We have an akuma to deal with," Lenalee declared with her boots activated. She then flew up into the air, heading towards the creature with the greenish, glowing ribbons at the ends of her boots flowing along with the wind.

With the akuma immobile, she flipped her body and had one leg ready to whack it on the head, but the akuma moved out of the way, causing her to create a small crater on the ground instead.

Not caring that she missed, she pressed on and continued several times to attack it while the demon kept trying to dodge.

Not wanting her to have all the fun, Kanda joined in the fight with Mugen in hand. He tried to slice at the akuma as it was going in the opposite direction of Lenalee's hits.

As for Kurai, she decided to do some long-range attacks and held up her daggers, shouting, "Rain!" The red glow faded from the weapons and was now replaced with a blue luminance.

Going into her stance, she waited as Kanda and Lenalee worked together in fighting the akuma. When she got the chance, Kurai swung both arms in sync, releasing streams of water this time. Lenalee and Kanda got out of the way as the akuma got drenched from all the water.

Kurai then threw some more attacks that directly hit its target until the akuma was backed into the wall.

"Damn you exorcists! This wouldn't be happening if I was a level three!"

Kanda took the chance to jump up into the air and slice the akuma in half. Before the split body pieces could hit the floor, they evaporated into dust and flew away with the wind.

After winning the battle, the young exorcists deactivated their innocences with Kurai and Kanda putting theirs back into the proper casings.

Kurai smiled, "Well, that was interesting. This is the first time we fought an akuma together."

"Che… more like the most amusing thing that happened all week," Kanda said, not acknowledging that they worked together before turning around to face them, "Let's go back already."

"Yeah, it's getting late anyway and the cafeteria should be open by now!" Lenalee informed him.

The boy looked relieved, "Well finally."

The two began walking out of the alley when the teal-haired girl noticed that her other friend wasn't walking with them. While Kanda went on, she stopped and turned around to see Kurai with her back turned, appearing to be looking down at something, "Kurai, you coming?"

"Yeah, I'll catch up. You two go on ahead," she replied, keeping her head turned the other way.

"Ok, don't be too long then," the Chinese girl advised before running after Kanda.

Kurai looked down at her clenched fist with a serious look. If she had gone for her instincts in the first place, she would have been more prepared. Instead, she ignored them and got herself in a mess which, luckily, she was able to handle along with her friends.

From what happened that day, she realized that she should always go with her instincts, no matter what, for it was her duty as an exorcist to be steps ahead from the enemy. If not, then who knows what could happen next time.

Exhaling a deep breath to relax herself, Kurai finally turned around. From her side vision, she noticed an odd-looking brick in the wall which was different from the rest of them. She found it weird, but only shrugged before she left to catch up with the two.

~…~

Back at the Black Order, the three were headed for the cafeteria since they were hungry again after the fighting they did.

When Kurai opened the doors, her eyes widened to see everyone there with lots of food as well as a banner that said "Welcome Kurai!"

All eyes were on her with smiles and grins before they all shouted, "Welcome!" As she walked further in, they all began to surround her, giving her greetings and congratulations.

She blushed and looked at Lenalee, "Umm, what's going on?"

The Chinese girl giggled, "It's your welcoming party as an exorcist!"

"Yup, you're part of the family now, Kurai," Komui said with a warm smile.

Kanda's face scrunched up, "Oh great… I should have been expecting this… I hated when they threw me one."

"Yeah… everyone made sure to stay back in case you decided to slice them up after hearing rumors of you. You didn't even stay too long!" Lenalee frowned. Kurai could only shake her head and smile, knowing him.

"Che… I don't like those kinds of things," he stated, crossing his arms before going to the food table. Lenalee sighed.

Reever came up to Kurai with a mug in his hand and smiled, "Here you go, Kurai, your very own mug. It even has your name engraved on it!" She got it from him before bowing her head in gratitude, thanking him.

"Here, I even have your uniform done!" Johnny told her, showing her the mannequin that displayed her new uniform. The top portion was an elbow-sleeved, zip-up jacket that was black with white trimmings, had a hood and also possessed the Black Order symbol of the rose. The lower part of her uniform, much to her disappointment, was a matching skirt that went up to her thighs along with shorts. Accessories that came with the uniform were matching fingerless gloves that went up to the wrist as well as new boots that were knee-high.

Kurai continued to frown at the skirt, never having been used to it before, but she didn't want to say anything, feeling like it would be rude since the design was specifically made for her.

Johnny noticed that she wasn't happy with the skirt, "You could just use your own pants if you don't want to use the skirt."

She shook her head in protest, "No, I'll use them. You made it for me, after all."

"Aw, you're so nice! For your next uniform, I'll make it so that you can just use pants!" he promised before conversing with Reever about something.

Kurai smiled before walking around with Lenalee who was introducing her to people she hadn't spoken to yet, getting to know the people that she would be working with.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed and hope I did okay with the fight scene :) **

**Thanks to Sky'sFire, sweet-archangel and XKey of the AbyssX for your reviews!**

**Please review! **


	4. Old Wounds

**Chapter 4: Old Wounds**

**Hey readers old and new! Updating this earlier than expected after writing it in one day! :D There is a lot of fighting, both action and actually arguing. **

**Thanks to akkichan1, zororenjilover, XKey of the AbyssX and Sky'sFire for reviewing! You guys are awesome!**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Dark-Flame Alchemist doesn't own D-Grayman**

* * *

Two years have passed since Kanda and Kurai joined the Black Order, and since then, the fourteen-year-old Kurai was no longer the quiet person she once was when meeting new people. Whether they were friends, co-workers or strangers, she acted respectful, friendly and sociable without any nervousness. Although, when it came to Lenalee and Kanda, she was more herself since she knew them better.

She noticed, though, that Kanda had been distancing himself from her after the week she first arrived. He would always try to get himself out of going on missions with her, rather going solo or with someone else. He had succeeded in his attempts so far because Komui was scared of the looks the exorcist boy would give him, at least, that's what the chief told her after she asked him. Even when she wanted to train or meditate with her friend, it would only be brief because he would make up some kind of excuse not too long after to get away from her.

She was hurt by his actions. It was like he didn't want her to be in the Black Order as an exorcist in the first place and she didn't know why. All Kurai wanted was to be able to work alongside her friend, that's all. She had even gone on missions with Lenalee and there were no problems, so why was he giving her trouble?

Kurai was glad that Komui finally partnered them up for a mission, thinking that she might find out the reason for Kanda's behavior.

Komui informed the team that there were suspicions of an innocence located in a village somewhere in the countryside of England and the two exorcists and their finder, Toma, were to go and investigate. After receiving their mission, they left on the train soon after and went on to their destination which was only a few hours away.

At the moment, the three were walking along a path through the forest, almost to the village with Kurai and Kanda bickering more than usual. To be exact, they were arguing ever since they left for the mission, mostly with Kanda starting it.

"Look, just let me deal with all the akuma, got it? It will make things easier on my part," Kanda insisted, wanting to just take on the creatures all by himself.

"For the last time Yu, I'm not going to let you do all the work. We were assigned to do this together and so that's what we'll do," Kurai said angrily, getting ready to kick his ass for thinking that she should just stand back and watch.

"What did I tell you about calling me Yu, _boke_?" he growled, glaring daggers at her.

"I don't give a damn right now, _sakana_! You're the one who's being all arrogant and obnoxious!" she shouted as she glared right back at him with as much intensity.

Toma sighed from behind the young exorcists, shaking his head, "I can't believe I got stuck with children…"

They both heard what he said and turned their heads to glare at him instead, "We are _NOT _children!" The finder held his hands up in defense, not liking how they were looking at him before Kanda and Kurai went back to their conflict, starting to argue in Japanese now.

Toma didn't know what they were saying, but he figured it wasn't anything nice and just let them continue… for now.

~…~

"It seems that the villagers haven't had any problems lately," Toma stated after they finished talking to another person.

"Well, that's just great! They're useless!" Kanda complained after they finally got to the village, asked around if anything strange has been happening and found out nothing.

"Calm down Kanda. Let's just search around, starting around the borders of the village. I'm sure we'll find something if we were told to come here," Kurai assured him as they walked by an angel statue near the entrance of the village. It had one finger pressed against its lips, like it was saying to be silent while the angel's other hand was hidden in a pocket.

While Toma and Kurai kept walking, Kanda stopped and took a glance at the statue. He normally wouldn't do such a thing, but he found the sculpture weird, "What kind of idiot would make a design like that? It's creepy."

His partner didn't know what he was talking about until she stopped to look at the statue herself. She shrugged, "I think it looks fine. Why are you so interested in it, anyway? I thought you were eager to search so that we can leave right away?"

"I am," he huffed, starting to move again while walking ahead of her now.

Kurai rolled her eyes at his behavior once again. She then took one more look at the statue before turning back to catch up to her group.

~…~

Not too long after searching around the perimeter, they found a number of level one akumas roaming around. It seemed that they were trying to get into the village, but an invisible force was preventing them from going in.

Kanda smirked, "Finally found the monsters! Boke, just leave this to me!"

He then removed Mugen from its sheath and held his sword horizontally in front of him, sliding his index and middle fingers against it, "Innocence activate! Mugen unsheathe!" With his weapon activated, he immediately charged for the swarm of akuma.

Kurai smacked her forehead at his impulsive move, "Damn that baka…" She grabbed her daggers and held them in front of her, "Innocence activate! Blaze!" Her weapons were now illuminated with a red light.

"Toma, stay in a safe area," she ordered before running off to go help out Kanda with or without his permission. The finder did as she said and stayed behind a tree in a safe distance while watching them fight.

Kurai found Kanda slicing an akuma before he headed for another one. One by one, they exploded, causing smoke to surround the area which made her lose sight of her comrade and the demons that he fought.

"Kuso (shit)… he doesn't think!" she yelled irritably, swinging her arm to send a stream of fire to dissipate some of the smoke that was impairing her vision.

Kurai sent out another stream at an akuma headed her way and it exploded like the rest of them. She also had to dodge several akumas' laser beams, leaping in different directions as well as hiding behind trees.

Kurai saw another one coming which she knew she couldn't dodge. Quickly, she faced the attack, crouched down on one knee and placed her daggers in an x-formation across her chest as she shouted, "Blaze barrier!" Staying still in her crouched position, a sphere of the same red light emitting from her weapons was now surrounding her. Kurai felt the barrier shake and fire ricocheting off it when the akuma's attack made contact. As soon as the rumbling stopped and no more attacks were headed towards her, she dispersed her shield.

"Rain!" she yelled this time, which caused her weapons to glow blue instead of red. Kurai threw some water streams and after finishing off all the akuma in her sight, she stayed in one spot while keeping alert. She was getting a little uneasy with the quietness that suddenly arose as the smoke was slowly starting to fade away. Though, it was still not enough for her to see clearly yet.

Kurai saw the shadow of a giant ball figure moving to her right. Instantly, she ran in the same direction, intending to attack directly.

The akuma saw her coming from its right and went in the opposite direction instead.

"Oh no you don't!" she declared, about to jump at it when she saw Kanda in her way at the last minute. He just noticed her too before they crashed into each other, with Kurai on top of him.

Kurai's crimson eyes looked up as the akuma got away and out of sight, "Oh great, the last one is gone!"

"Whose fault is that, boke? Now can you get off! You're squishing me!" he yelled from under her.

She rolled her eyes and got off him before holding out her hand to help him up. He pushed himself up in a sitting position and swatted her hand away the moment he saw it. Kanda eventually got back on his feet and put his weapon away after deactivating it.

Kurai shook her head before doing the same with her weapons. She looked around afterwards as the smoke finally cleared away, "Well, it looks like we have to go find that akuma now. It should be hiding somewhere."

"Che… this wouldn't have happened if you hadn't collided with me in the first place!" he accused her immediately.

"Well, you shouldn't have been so rash and started slashing at them without me! Thanks to you, there was smoke everywhere and I couldn't see very well! I could have hit you with my attacks or you could have cut me up!" Kurai countered as they went face to face with their noses almost touching.

"I was doing fine without you! I didn't need your help! You're only a burden!"

"I don't understand why you are acting like this! Why won't you let me help? I am more than capable of fighting! I'm not a weak and helpless girl who'll just wait for someone to come and fight for me!"

He turned his back to her and crossed his arms, "Che… I would prefer you that way."

Kurai clenched her fists in fury, "God, you are so aggravating! You've been distant from me ever since we left the Asian Branch and I'm already so frustrated that I can't remember any incident that occurred there, let alone, what happened with Alma!" After letting out a few deep breaths, she didn't say anything after that, breaking down in tears for the first time in years from bringing up old wounds.

Kanda, hearing her cry because of him, remained silent.

Toma just arrived in time to see the result of the fight, "Look you two, I don't know what you just argued about this time, but I think its best that we get to a safe place. Let's head this way." He began to go in a certain direction with Kanda starting to follow him without question. Kurai herself trailed along after wiping away her tears and putting her hood up to hide her face.

~…~

After finding a cave, Kurai and Kanda sat down in rocks far away from each other, looking in opposite directions.

Toma realized that the fight they had this time was really bad, causing him to shake his head in disappointment, "The both of you aren't just exorcists, you are also comrades. It is your duty to put your differences aside and work together as a team. Right now, I don't see that."

"That's what I kept _trying _to tell _him_," Kurai reminded him.

"Che…" Kanda scowled.

"She's right, Kanda. Kurai has been trying to work with you this whole time, but you keep on pushing her away. Whatever issue you have with her, set it aside so you can finish this mission."

The stubborn fourteen-year-old paid no mind to his words and stood up, "I'll just take care of the akuma myself." He turned towards the entrance of the cave and left.

~…~

Kanda walked around aimlessly looking for the akuma with no luck so far. Eventually, he found the creature with its back turned, just floating still in one spot. He smirked and activated Mugen before rushing towards it, "Let's get this over with!"

Before he could, though, the akuma started to evolve before his very eyes, causing him to stop.

The akuma was now a level two, taking the appearance of a great black panther that was as tall as Kanda and had the face of a level one on its head.

"Haha, I finally evolved into a level two! Now I can get that innocence and give it to the Earl!" the akuma cackled before setting its eyes on Kanda, "But first, I think I'll eat you up! You should be grateful that you're my first victim!"

"Che… like that's going to happen!" Kanda sneered before unleashing a set of insects at the akuma.

More fast and agile now, the akuma quickly jumped up to avoid the attacks before landing back on the ground to charge after the exorcist.

With his innocence in hand, Kanda waited for the akuma to come at him. Unexpected, though, the akuma disappeared in a flash, surprising him as he began to turn his head in every direction to find the creature.

Before he knew it, the akuma appeared behind him and clawed his back. Kanda staggered forward and rolled himself up until he was facing the akuma again. As soon as he turned around though, he felt an immense pain on his leg and fell onto his back. He looked up after the fall to see that the akuma took a chomp on his leg and began to retract itself. Quickly, he slashed the akuma across its chest once he saw the area, leaving a deep wound.

The akuma let out a cry of pain before growling, crouching on its front legs and starting to step back gradually.

Holding his bleeding leg, Kanda watched the akuma carefully, knowing that it was getting ready to attack. He berated himself for losing his focus because of the fight he had with Kurai. Now, because of his stupidity, he was in a mess.

The akuma stopped eventually and pounced. Kanda held his sword in front of him, waiting for the right time to attack when the creature flew to its right after getting hit by streams of fire. The akuma landed on its side, hissing in pain from the burns it just received, "Damn it!"

"Kanda, are you okay?"

Said person turned in the direction of the voice. He saw Kurai running towards him before she knelt by his side, taking a look at his wounds on his leg and back, "You're bleeding, but it doesn't look too deep. I think your regenerative powers are already kicking in since your back is fully healed."

She then winked at him with a smile, "You'll live."

Kanda snorted, "Of course I'll live. I'm not going to allow myself to die when I have a goal to fulfill."

Kurai sighed and pushed herself up as he watched her actions. She held a hand to him again, giving him a sincere look, "Let me help you then. It's what friends do."

He looked at her for a few seconds before groaning, "Fine." He took her hand to which she immediately pulled him up his feet. Kanda checked his leg to see if he was able to fight and luckily, he found it all healed up. Both of them then faced the akuma as it was getting up, snarling in their direction with a murderous look.

"You'll pay for that exorcist! Both of you will pay!" the akuma yelled, running after them.

Kurai and Kanda went into battle positions and dodged the akuma. It turned to Kanda and went after him.

With the akuma busy with Kanda, Kurai took the chance to use another power of hers. She held her daggers in front of her and yelled, "Innocence level two! Sacred light!" Instead of red light, the weapons were now glowing purple.

"Kanda move!" she screamed at her friend as she swung her arms to send ribbons of lightning at the akuma. Kanda did as she said and jumped out of the way, letting the akuma get shocked by Kurai's attack.

The akuma growled before shaking its head and running towards Kurai this time.

She jumped out of the way and avoided it before sending another lightning attack, shocking the akuma again.

It fell to the ground and laid limp, unable to move from all the shock it received, "No… must get the innocence…"

Panting, Kanda walked up to the paralyzed akuma and took the final blow. The now dead demon turned to dust afterwards.

~…~

"Hey…" Kanda finally said as they were walking out of the forest.

"What?" Kurai asked, looking at him.

He looked down and muttered, "I'm sorry…"

She heard him perfectly, but wanted to tease him and so, she placed a hand over her ear, "What did you say?"

"I'm sorry…"

"I can't hear you!"

"You're killing me here…"

"Just say it!"

"Che, fine… _I'm sorry!"_

Satisfied, she wrapped an arm around her groaning friend's shoulders and grinned, "That's what I thought I heard."

"Get off me woman!" he yelled, pulling himself away from her, "You're just as annoying as _he _was!" Kanda then realized what he said and mentally kicked himself, thinking she was going to get upset again.

Kurai didn't though, remaining calm while looking up at the sky in thought. She then faced him, "Hey Kanda… let's forget the past so we can move on."

His eyes widened at what she said, "What?"

She smiled lightly at him, "You heard me. Alma wouldn't want us fighting like how we just did. He probably would have kicked our butts just like I used to do whenever you guys fought. That's why I think we should just look forward to the future."

His dark eyes softened before he closed his eyes and shrugged, "If that's what you want." She just punched his arm softly this time as they were almost at the village where Kurai told Toma to meet them.

Kanda then ran a hand through his hair, "Look, I also want to apologize for making you upset to the point of crying. It wasn't what I intended and I didn't mean what I said."

"Don't worry about it! I forgive you already!" she chuckled before going ahead.

Kanda stopped himself as he watched her walking, clenching his fists, _'Stupid… making her cry just like __**he**__ did.' _He suddenly had another flash of the woman who kept appearing in his mind.

'_**I love you…'**_

As the image and voice went away, he shook his head to compose himself, _'Damn… not again. First it was whenever Alma was near me, now Kurai ever since she arrived at the Black Order. This is why I kept my distance, but I have to get over it or else she'll get sad again… and I will not let that happen after I promised to not only protect her, but also to not make her cry. One of which I broke, and in turn, started breaking the other one.'_

Kanda sighed, looking up at the sky, "Alma, you idiot. Why did you do it?"

~…~

When Kanda caught up to Kurai, they saw the entrance in view with Toma there. Once he noticed them, he waved his hand around which held an innocence. The two were baffled.

"Where did you find it?" Kurai asked with a confused look since there weren't any signs of it anywhere.

"To our luck, someone was cleaning the statue and accidently broke the area where the pocketed hand was, revealing the innocence!"

The two blinked a couple of times and stared at each other before laughing, which was the first for Kanda in a long time.

* * *

**Hope this was okay :) **

**Next chapter, Lavi will appear! :D He was actually supposed to appear in the next next chapter, but I removed the content for chapter five that I originally had because I'm going to place it in a series of one-shots that I will make in a separate fic from the main story ^_^ Will have that out after I have a number of chapters done, but I'll let you know!**

**Please review!**


	5. New Comrades

**Chapter 5: New Comrades**

**Hey everyone! Sorry for the long wait! Would have probably had this out last week if I hadn't been obsessed with playing Dragon Age 2 all week hehe Anyway, I finally finished this so hope you enjoy!**

**Thanks to _AprilMarciano, XKey of the AbyssX, XSnowflakesX, akkichan1 and IvoryMoonlight _for your reviews! :D**

**Enjoy! Lavi finally is introduced! ;)**

**Disclaimer: Dark-Flame Alchemist doesn't own D-Grayman.**

* * *

Her crimson eyes watched where she was going to make sure that she didn't bump into any trees as she ran. While holding her injured, bleeding arm, Kurai looked back quickly to see that the akuma was still following her, which is what she wanted.

The creature had proven to be the most annoying than its fellow akuma, knocking finders and exorcists down during their own battles which greatly affected the outcomes. Because of the setbacks, she had decided to lure the akuma solely from the battlefield which was how she got into the situation at the moment.

After dodging a swipe attack that hit a tree instead, Kurai threw another ribbon of lightning before looking straight ahead again.

"Looks like you missed, exorcist! Judging by the condition you're in, it looks like you're not going to keep on going much longer so you should just give up now! After I kill you, I'll go back to help finish off the rest of your people and invade that headquarters of yours! The Earl will be pleased!"

"That won't happen, I can guarantee you!" Kurai dissuaded, not going to let the akuma get the best of her, but she did know that her plan to get that specific akuma away was reckless because of the injuries she sustained from the battle. The wounds she received consisted of a tender abdomen and cuts and scratches all over her body besides her non-functioning arm, but the sixteen-year-old had a feeling she would be fine and that her actions would be doing everyone else a favor.

Much to her surprise as well as everyone else's, an akuma ambush began a few hours ago outside headquarters at the bottom of the base. All those available, mostly finders and exorcists alike, were ordered to fight while others remained inside the Black Order for defense.

How this surprise attack came to be, nobody knew how or why, but the enemy's plan was looking unsuccessful since headquarters still remained intact with no akumas able to get in and a few of the creatures now remained. New security defenses would most likely have to be installed in case another ambush was to occur, hopefully not anytime soon though.

Seeing a river in her way, she had no other choice but to go with her alternative method. Turning around, she crouched down on one knee with only one dagger in hand while her other one was sheathed on the holster strapped to her thigh. She remained vigilant, waiting for the akuma to come closer.

"Sacred light barrier!" Kurai finally cried out, calling forth a purple-lighted shield to surround her from a ten feet radius, half of what it can go to with twenty being the maximum. The akuma slammed against the force field, immediately became electrocuted and howled in pain, but it didn't give up, continuously repeating the action to try to get to her.

She knew it would penetrate through eventually, especially since her barrier was only half as strong because of her broken arm.

After the akuma crashed into the barrier a few more times, Kurai couldn't hold it anymore and dissipated her defense, holding up her lone dagger in her free hand to protect herself.

Just as the akuma smirked and charged forward to attack her, Lenalee came just in time to smack it with a powerful wind kick that sent it flying into a tree. Unluckily, it got stabbed by a branch before exploding into dust.

The teal-haired girl landed gracefully onto the ground in front of her friend, giving her a tired, yet relieved look, "It looks like that was the last of them."

Kurai landed on her knees and sighed, allowing herself to relax, "Finally. That was the most fighting that we did in a while. Too bad Kanda wasn't here. It would have probably been a whole lot easier with his help."

"If only we had known that something like this would occur so that Brother wouldn't have sent him or any other exorcists off on missions," Lenalee agreed before frowning down at Kurai, "You know, even though your stunt helped out greatly, it was still stupid of you to do with your kinds of wounds."

"Sorry about that…" Kurai apologized with a chuckle.

Lenalee just shook her head before stretching out a hand towards her friend, "You're just lucky I saw you run off and chased after you before that akuma could kill you. Come on, let's head back."

Kurai nodded and accepted the hand. Soon, she was up on her feet with Lenalee supporting her while they walked back to headquarters.

~…~

In one of the large rooms in headquarters, coffins were being organized in rows and injured people were receiving medical aid. A funeral was also taking place there for the finders and exorcists who died during the akuma ambush on the Black Order.

At the moment, both female exorcists were receiving medical attention and treatment. Kurai was first, getting bandaged up on her abdomen and forehead as well as having a sling for her broken arm. When finished, she stood beside Lenalee who was sitting on the floor while being checked out next by a nurse. She didn't need to get bandaged up except for the bleeding scratch on her cheek since her injuries were minor.

Although she was fine earlier, the fourteen-year-old appeared miserable now as her eyes wandered around the room, seeing how many people actually died from the fight. Tears started to stream down her face from knowing some of them.

Kurai kneeled down and placed her uninjured hand on her friend's shoulder, "Lenalee, everything's going to be okay. Look on the bright side! Headquarters was saved from being destroyed and it was because of everyone who fought. None of them would want you to be sad." She smiled lightly while trying to cheer her up.

Lenalee turned her head to face Kurai and nodded with a smile, "You're right. Hey, since you're already done, you should go rest for now. I can see that you're tired."

Kurai chuckled as she pushed herself up, "All right. I'll meet you in the cafeteria later then." The teal-haired girl nodded once again before facing the nurse who wanted her to look straight.

As Kurai turned to leave the room, she felt like she was being watched. Slowly, she averted her vision to the level above the one she was on until her crimson eyes gazed back at an emerald one.

It was someone around their age staring down at her with a frozen expression. More specifically, that someone was a boy she had never seen before. He had fiery red hair held up by a headband, small hoop earrings as well as an eye patch covering his right eye. To his left, Kurai finally noticed Komui and a short man conversing about something.

Looking back at the stranger still staring at her, she couldn't help but feel attracted to him, which was a first for her, but Kurai figured that it was just her tiredness playing mind games with her. After taking one last glance at the young man, she turned around and left, headed for her room to take a nap.

~…~

While heading for the cafeteria like she told Lenalee she would, Kurai yawned and stretched her free arm after waking up from her hour nap.

As soon as she entered the room, laughing could be heard. She noticed all the staff members of the science department there, along with Lenalee and, surprisingly, that unfamiliar guy again. He was standing up with his arms spread apart, remaining calm as Johnny measured him, which she figured was for a uniform.

Her eyes suddenly widened when she realized that it was probably for an _exorcist_ uniform, meaning that he was going to be their new comrade. Many questions suddenly rose in her head, but she got out of her thoughts quickly before getting the group's attention. All eyes were soon on her now.

"Hi Kurai!" they all greeted simultaneously before each of them individually remarked how she and Lenalee did a good job saving headquarters and finishing off the akuma.

She smiled and waved before walking over to them just as the red-head sat back down next to Lenalee and just looked at Kurai interacting with the others, not saying anything.

When Johnny turned to her and saw the state her uniform was in, he frowned and immediately went over to her, "Aw Kurai… I don't think I can modify your uniform anymore. It looks like I'm going to have to make you a new one. Do you mind if I measure you now? I'll be careful with your arm."

"I'm here anyway Johnny so go for it," she allowed him, spreading her normal arm out as he became all cheerful and took out his long measuring rope.

"Don't worry, Kurai, I'll make sure to design you a coat this time that is similar to Kanda's yet is also your style," he assured her while taking her measurements, circling around her to get each body part that he needed.

She raised an eyebrow, "Why are you just deciding this now? The one I'm wearing currently is a complete version of my first uniform since I grew out of it." Johnny became hesitant, but didn't say anything as he continued his work.

"Well…" Reever spoke up while rubbing his stubbed chin, "We knew you wouldn't wear a skirt unless it was for your uniform and wanted to make sure you continued to look girly like Lenalee." The others just laughed nervously.

She gritted her teeth as a vein popped in her head, "Seriously? You took advantage of my habit?"

"Yes," they all muttered cheekily.

Kurai just sighed and shook her head while Lenalee giggled.

"Aww, you look pretty cute in a skirt. It's a shame that I arrived when you were going to have a uniform change though," the new guy pouted.

She murderously glared at him since she couldn't move, "Pervert."

He just grinned, not at all affected by her words or stare, "It was a compliment."

Kurai rolled her eyes, "Compliment my ass."

"All right Kurai! I'm finished!" Johnny replied and was about to say something else, but Kurai was impatient.

"Finally," she uttered before she started to move. Unfortunately, something prevented her legs from working correctly and so she began to fall forward, unable to catch herself because of her injuries.

Instinctively, Kurai maneuvered her body so that her back would hit the floor instead. She closed her eyes, waiting for the impact, but it never happened.

Confused, she slowly opened her eyes to see the same emerald eye staring back at her again.

The red-head smiled lightly this time, "You all right there? That probably would have been a nasty fall."

Not sure what was going on, she looked away from his face and finally noticed that she was in his arms in a dipped position – he had saved her from falling. She blushed and let out a cough, "T-thank you, um?"

"The name's Lavi. No need to tell me yours since I already know, my damsel in distress," he winked.

Kurai hissed, "_Excuse me_? I am _no_ damsel in distress."

"Well, you _are _one right now," he smirked while everyone else snickered.

She avoided his gaze and huffed in anger, "Well, this will be the only time then."

"Umm… I don't want to ruin the moment, but I need to untangle Kurai out of my measuring rope before she falls again," Johnny informed them as they both looked and saw him pointing at the culprit around her legs that caused her to fall in the first place.

Realizing the position they were still in, Lavi helped her up as the measuring rope was free from her.

"All right, you're free now! Sorry about that, by the way. I tried to warn you though," Johnny said while rubbing the back of his neck.

Kurai just waved off a hand, "No worries. It was my fault."

"Anyway, we should we going back to work. There is much to do because of the previous event. We'll see you all later," Reever stated before the science department members left the cafeteria.

Lavi went back to his seat next to Lenalee while Kurai went on the other side of the table, sitting across from them.

Lenalee suddenly stood up, "Rai, I'll get your food since you're injured."

Kurai smiled, "Thanks Lena." Her friend nodded before walking over to where Jery was cooking, leaving her and Lavi alone.

When they made eye contact, he smiled at her, "Looks like we'll be working together from now on."

"It seems that way, but it depends on whether the chief assigns us on the same missions," Kurai blatantly stated since she was still a little mad at him, but was mostly curious about their first encounter.

"Something up? You don't seem very happy," he inquired.

"As a matter of fact, yes, something is up. Why were you staring at me weird earlier?" she asked him with interest.

Lavi tilted his head, trying to look innocent, "Whatever do you mean?"

"You know _exactly_ what I mean."

He shrugged with a huge grin on his face, "What can I say? I fell in love at first sight."

Kurai rolled her eyes at his answer although she should have known he would have said something like that, "How cheesy… and here I thought you found something appalling about me besides the fact that I'm bandaged up like a mummy."

"I would never find someone as beautiful as yourself unpleasant to look at," he cheekily remarked.

"You know… you can flatter me all you want, but it won't work on me. I already find you annoying," she informed him.

"Well, I tried. I hope that we can still be friends though," he said with a hopeful look.

Kurai thought about it for a few seconds before she sighed and waved a hand, "We'll see."

"Good enough for me!" Lavi exclaimed. She just shook her head as they conversed some more before Lenalee came back with her food.

* * *

**There you go! Please review! ^_^**


	6. Annoying

**Chapter 6: Annoying**

**Hey, sorry for the long wait! I'll tell you next time why besides the fact that I'm currently in another country. Strangely, fanfiction knows the country where I am and even states so in my profile so if you are stalker and want to know then go check it out. xP**

**For now, though, enjoy! **

**Disclaimer: Dark-Flame Alchemist doesn't own D-Grayman except for her OC**

* * *

Kurai finished taking a shower and drying herself after her training with Kanda not too long ago. Still in her undergarments, she held her new uniform coat in hand, checking it out in front of her mirror first.

She turned her body afterwards, keeping her head still facing the mirror to see how the material looked from behind.

Her eyes wandered her figure until they fell upon the familiar diagonal scar that started from her left shoulder and ended down at her right hip. She gave it a good stare before walking over to her bed. Placing her coat back on the bed, she let her hand feel the old injury, almost having forgotten about it again.

Sighing, she removed her hand where it was and began to put her clothes on.

~…~

Kurai walked down the halls wearing her new uniform. This consisted of black tight pants, knee-high, black boots with heels and a dark red tube top underneath her collared, elbow-sleeved exorcist coat that went up to her knees. The coat was decorated with white trimmings and had the black order symbol of the rose. She also wore the same black fingerless gloves that went up to her wrist.

She closed her eyes while stretching her arms. Suddenly, she could hear someone shouting out to her, "Hey, Kurai!"

Opening one eye, she noticed Lavi and Bookman walking in her direction with the red head grinning and waving.

Kurai placed her arms back down and waved before they stopped a foot apart from each other.

"Hi Lavi," she greeted.

A frown formed on Lavi's face when he saw her new attire, "Aw man. I've only been here for two weeks and you already changed your uniform. Don't worry though, I still think you look hot." He grinned this time.

She rolled her eyes before respectfully bowing down at the shorter man, "Good afternoon, Bookman."

"The same to you, Miss Uchiha. I see your wounds are fully healed now," he stated, seeing no more bandages.

"They absolutely are. Thank you for using your healing techniques. Those needles of yours weren't as bad as I thought they'd be," she smiled.

"You're welcome. Acupuncture has its benefits after all," Bookman said before nudging an elbow at his apprentice, "You see, Lavi? You should be more respectful to your elders like Miss Uchiha."

Lavi snorted, placing his hands behind his neck, "Be respectful to an old panda like you? Nah!" He was then sent flying into the wall because of a kick from Bookman.

He rubbed his sore head before jumping back up with an angry expression on his face, "Why'd you have to go and do that, old man?"

"Humph, like I said, you should be more respectful and don't call me an old panda!"

"Not my fault you're old and resemble one! Ow, would you stop that!"

As the two were arguing, Kurai blinked at their interaction before noticing that Bookman did kind of look like a panda with the dark circles around his eyes, but she would never say it out loud.

After whacking Lavi on the head a few more times, Bookman turned to Kurai, "I apologize for my idiot apprentice's terrible behavior."

She just waved a hand, "Don't worry. If he infuriates me from now on, then I'll just beat the crap out of him."

Bookman chuckled, "If that's the case, then I approve. Goodbye for now, Miss Uchiha. Let's go Lavi." He continued walking again.

"That's not cool, Gramps!" Lavi exclaimed before he ran past her to follow his mentor, but stopped to face her again, "I'll see you later!" Waiting for no response, he turned back and left.

Kurai shook her head and walked off after they were out of sight.

~…~

"I see you're still eating soba noodles, Kanda," Kurai frowned, watching him with Lenalee by his side while she sat across from them. They were the only ones in the cafeteria at the moment since lunch was over for a few hours already.

"Shut up and let me enjoy my meal," he retorted to her statement.

She rolled her eyes, muttering to herself, "I regret ever introducing you to that stuff."

Lenalee shrugged, "It's better than him not eating anything at all, I guess."

"At least someone understands."

Before Kurai could snap at him, they all felt a small quake in the room and became startled, wondering if there was an earthquake.

Suddenly, one of the walls broke, revealing a robot with a cheerful Komui right behind it. Jerry, seeing debris all over the cafeteria, had his jaw wide open from what he just witnessed.

After their grand entrance, the branch chief and robot went over to the exorcists' table.

"Hello there!"

Kurai and Lenalee just stared at the machine in awe while Kanda scoffed and paid attention back to his food.

"Uh, brother? What is that?"

Komui smirked and struck a pose, pointing at his creation, "This here is Sir Komlin! He's my masterpiece!"

"So what exactly is he supposed to do?" Kurai asked curiously.

"Why, help out the science department, of course! My baby should take workloads off for them! _So_, what do you think? Pretty impressive, eh?" None of them paid attention to him as Kurai and Lenalee watched Sir Komlin start to walk around the cafeteria while Kanda minded his own business.

The robot went around a circle before going back to the exorcists' table, scanning the three of them with a red light for a few seconds.

"Lenalee Lee, Kurai Uchiha and Yu Kanda accounted for," it reported.

"Wow, that's pretty neat," Kurai said while Lenalee nodded in agreement. Kanda was a little irritated that Sir Komlin mentioned his first name, but didn't say anything.

Komui began to squeal in delight, "He's brilliant!"

Then, unexpected to them all, Sir Komlin moved closer to the table until it was in front of Kanda. Everyone except Kanda observed the robot, wondering what it was going to do next.

Komui, Lenalee and Kurai became horrified when Sir Komlin leaned down and grabbed Kanda's tray with his soba noodles. What's worse, it somehow started to eat the food.

"_Oh my god_," Kurai lowly said before the three of them turned to see Kanda's reaction.

His dark eyes kept their gaze where his food once was as he blinked, not believing what just happened. With a blank expression on his face that masked the seething anger inside him, he closed his eyes and held mugen in hand.

"Umm, Kanda? What do you plan to do with your innocence? I hope you're just going to clean it," Komui nervously hoped.

Without giving a response, he immediately unsheathed mugen, jumped up and easily sliced Sir Komlin in half.

Komui screamed and cried while running towards his now damaged machine. He hugged the parts before yelling out at Kanda, "_Why Kanda_? He was so young! _How could you_?"

"Che, serves it right," the Japanese exorcist muttered before walking towards the doors with a pissed off look. He was out of the dining hall before anyone could say anything.

Kurai and Lenalee both shook their heads and glanced at each other.

"I'll go after the hot head while you deal with your brother," Kurai proposed.

"Sounds like a good idea," Lenalee sighed before going over to comfort the upset Komui.

Kurai got up and speed-walked out of the cafeteria to catch up with Kanda. She turned a corner in the hall and found him not too far away, "Hey Kanda! Wait up!"

"Leave me alone, Uchiha, or I'll fight you right here."

She didn't listen to him and started walking the same pace as him once she was at his side.

"_Uchiha…_ what did I just say? Are you asking for your death wish right now?" he said with a hint of annoyance.

Kurai paid no mind to his words, "You should really control your anger, you know."

"Che… it was that _thing's_ fault for eating my food," he argued.

She sighed, "_Kanda_, you can't just do that. Besides, you could have gotten another bowl."

"…"

Kurai rolled her eyes at his silence as they continued walking to who knows where.

Surprisingly, though, a familiar face was headed in their direction, causing them to all stop for a chat.

Kurai bowed, "Good afternoon, General Tiedoll."

"General," Kanda simply said with a nod.

General Tiedoll smiled at the sight of the two exorcists, "Lovely to see you two again. Kurai, you look livelier now than you were at our last meeting years ago. I'm happy to see this."

She smiled, "Thank you general. How are you these days?"

"Doing well, my dear. Yeegar sends his regards, by the way. I ran into him not too long ago and we were discussing about the two of you actually. Good things though."

"Glad to know."

Tiedoll looked at Kanda, noticing that he was upset at the moment, "What's wrong, Yu, my son?"

Kanda just frowned.

"Oh, don't worry about him right now. He's just being his moody self as usual after an incident in the dining hall," Kurai explained.

The general chuckled, "I'm glad he has you around then. Well, I must be going to Komui's office. I have much to discuss with him."

Remembering that Komui was most likely upset at the moment, Kurai nervously laughed, "Umm, he probably isn't there right now. I suggest you visit him in a few hours."

"I'll take your word for it then. Kurai. Yu." He nodded and walked past the two exorcists.

Seeing that Kanda was still grumpy, she placed an arm around his shoulder and started leading him, "How about we go meditate in the garden? Maybe that'll cool you down."

"Fine," Kanda retorted, pushing her away from him, but still walking next to her.

As they were walking away, a figure left his place hiding behind a corner with a smirk on his face, "_Yu_, huh?"

~…~

"Are you calm now, Kanda?" Kurai asked him as they were meditating in the garden for the last hour side by side.

"…"

"I take that as a yes," she chuckled.

"Be quiet."

"All right. All right."

With her eyes still closed, she could hear footsteps approaching them. She slowly opened her right eye to see Lenalee with her clipboard and Lavi waving at her.

"What you two up to?" he asked.

Kurai took a glance at her companion before looking back up at him. "We're meditating," she whispered, "You better not bother Kanda right now though."

"Too late," Kanda said, opening his eyes with a glaring look at the newcomer, "Who the hell are you?"

The red head waved a hand while Lenalee introduced him, "His name is Lavi. He's a new exorcist here. I forgot that the two of you haven't met yet since Kanda was out on a mission for a few weeks."

"What's up?" Lavi smiled cheekily.

"Che… like I _care_," Kanda responded before shutting his eyes once more.

"_Yeah_, he's still not in a good mood," Kurai sighed.

Lenalee shook her head, "The same could be said for my brother."

"Why? What happened to them?" Lavi asked curiously.

"You don't want to know," the female exorcists stated simultaneously.

"Uh, ok then."

"Would you all _shut up_? I can't concentrate," Kanda said, gritting his teeth.

"All right, _Yu_. We'll be quiet," Lavi complied with a happy face.

Lenalee blinked while Kurai face-palmed.

A dark aura started to surround Kanda, "What. Did. You. Just. Call. Me?" he opened his eyes, glaring at the culprit who dared to call him the name that he didn't like to be called by.

"Umm, Yu. Why? Its your name, isn't it?"

After blinking a few times, Kanda stood up and cracked his knuckles.

Kurai sighed, "I think you better start running."

"Good idea," Lavi nervously laughed before he ran away in a flash. Kanda started chasing him around the area right after.

"Come back here!"

"Not until you stop chasing me, _Yu_!"

"You're going to get it, baka usagi!"

"A what?"

"You heard me, stupid rabbit!"

After circling around a few times, Lavi eventually hid behind Kurai, using her as a shield. She gave him a blank look as he gave her a pleading one, seeing Kanda getting closer and closer.

She rolled her eyes before staring at Lenalee, "Lena, do something about Kanda."

The teal-haired girl nodded and when Kanda ran towards their direction she bonked him on the head with her clipboard, "Kanda, stop it!"

He growled once he stopped, rubbing his head irritably, "I can't get a day to relax after coming back from a mission, can I. I'm going to the training room. Nobody follow me this time or I'll slice them to bits."

Without waiting for a response, he grabbed his innocence and stomped out of the garden. Lenalee ran to catch up with him, just to make sure that he didn't cause any trouble in the hallways with his tantrum.

"Poor Kanda…" Kurai shook her head before letting out a gasp from something attaching to her. She grimaced seeing familiar arms wrapped around her and turned her head around to glare at the person holding her, "Lavi, what are you doing?"

He grinned, "Thanking the one who saved me with a hug."

She jabbed an elbow to his chest, causing him to let go of her and hold his stomach in pain, "Geez! What was that for?"

Kurai stood up and stared him down with her hands on her hips, "I almost got him to relax and you put him in an even more foul mood!"

Lavi held his hands up in defense in case she planned to hit him, "Sorry… my curiosity got the best of me."

"Unbelievable," she said shaking her head before spinning around and walking.

"Hey! Where are you going?"

"Away from you! You aggravate me!" she yelled. Soon, she was out of the garden, leaving a chuckling Lavi behind.

Walking down the halls, Kurai couldn't help but feel a little miffed off from what just happened, and it was all because of a certain person.

'_It's official. Lavi is the most annoying person I've ever met.'_

* * *

**Hope you liked this! I'm not sure yet when the next chapter will be out, but hopefully sometime in the next two weeks!**

**Other than that, please review! :D**


	7. Changing Views

**Chapter 7: Changing Views**

**Sorry for the long wait. So here's the scoop: I recently moved to a new country for college which started about two weeks ago so I'm still adjusting while having lots of classes, including Saturday ones! T.T Please bear with me as I try to update every two weeks at the latest. I won't give up on this though! Reviews will help the motivation to keep going!**

**Thank you to those who reviewed lately. You guys are awesome: Lady Island Rose (formely Lady Death the Kid's), _Zororenjilover_, sweet-archangel, and _XKey of the AbyssX_**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: DarkFlame Achemist doesn't own D-Grayman.**

* * *

_After finishing an obstacle course, the young, seven-year-old girl with crimson eyes and black hair panted, remaining in battle stance with two bladed weapons in each hand._

"_That's enough, Kurai. You're done training for the day. It's time to eat," an older looking version of the girl stated while drinking some tea at a table close by with food on top. The woman wore an exorcist uniform with gold trimmings, indicating that she was a general. She had green eyes, though, and her hair was up in a ponytail._

"_Yes, master Miko," Kurai nodded, placing the weapons back on the rack and sitting down on the chair across from her mentor. She got the chopsticks in front of her and started eating slowly, which was how she was taught to do._

"_Kurai, you know that I've raised you since the day you were born. Trained and educated you when you came of age, just to make you who you are today, right?" the general said, looking straight at the girl._

"_Yes, master. Although you're not my mother, I still see you as a mother figure and am grateful for everything you've done for me, no matter how strict," she replied after swallowing her food._

_Miko gave a small smile, which was a rare sight to see, "I'm glad."_

"_Why do you ask though?"_

_A solemn look was on the older woman's face as she looked up at the sky, "Things will soon change, my dear. I just want you to know, I'm proud to have been a part of your life." She gazed back at Kurai who had a worried look on her face._

_Miko chuckled, "Don't worry, I'm not leaving you anytime soon. There is much I still have to teach you before I leave this world. Finish your meal so we can begin your other lessons."_

_Even though she was still unsure of what her master was talking about, the child didn't question her any longer and did as she was told._

~…~

Kurai yawned as the grogginess was slowly fading away. She looked out the window to see that it was cloudy outside. She smiled, preferring the type of weather – it wasn't too sunny and the temperature should be descent since it had been for the past weeks, _'this is the perfect time to go out for a walk into town. Good thing it's my day off!'_

She pulled the covers off her and sat on the edge of the bed, stretching her arms before getting up and taking a shower.

~…~

After drying her hair, Kurai stood in front of her mirror and combed her black locks. For the day, she decided to wear something else besides her uniform – a red, sleeveless vest with a hood under a black camisole, black shorts as well as her usual boots and gloves. She also wore her thigh holsters that had her daggers sheathed in them.

Once she was done, she walked out of her room. Immediately when she locked her door, Kurai heard someone shouting her name and turned to see her teal-haired friend approaching her.

She smiled, "Hey, Lena. What's up? I was about to head into town for the day."

"I was wondering if you would do a favor for me," the fourteen-year-old asked.

Kurai raised an eyebrow, "What sort of favor?"

"Can you distract Lavi while the dining hall is getting organized for his and Bookman's party?"

"No way. Absolutely not," Kurai refused right away, forming an x with her arms to prove her point.

Lenalee sighed, "Come on, Rai. Just take Lavi with you for a few hours while we finish preparing."

"If you leave him alone with me, I can assure you he won't make it to his own party," she swore, looking dead serious while crossing her arms. After several encounters with him so far, which didn't go so well, she didn't want to be near him anytime soon.

"Can you do this for me, _please_?" Lenalee pleaded.

Kurai rolled her eyes and gave in, "Fine."

Her friend smiled and hugged her tightly, "Thanks so much! You don't need to worry about Bookman since he spends the majority of his time in the library. Just find him when you two return."

"Yeah. Yeah. What are friends for?" Kurai stated before getting out of Lenalee's grip and walking away to find Lavi.

"Thanks again! We should be done by the time you get back!" Lenalee mentioned.

Still looking straight, Kurai waved a hand as she turned a corner.

'_And now my day off will be ruined…' _she groaned, slumping her head down once she knew Lenalee couldn't see her.

~…~

Knock. Knock.

"Come in."

As soon as Kurai got permission to enter, she opened the door to Lavi's room and found him reading a book at his desk. He was wearing his usual attire with his green shirt, white pants, boots and accessories consisting of his headband and eye patch.

She frowned a little, thinking it weird that he and Bookman didn't receive their uniforms yet. They've been in the Black Order already for about two and a half weeks too, but she figured that they would receive them at their surprise welcoming party just like she had.

Lavi's eyes eventually turned in the direction of the door and he smiled when he saw who was there, "Hey there, Kurai. What's up?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to go into town with me," Kurai offered. She was a little happy since he didn't comment on her appearance like he would usually do, but she wasn't going to say anything to spoil the moment.

He blinked a few times, surprised that she would ask _him _of all people. But, nevertheless, he had no reason to complain and smiled, "If I get to spend some time with you, then of course!"

After grabbing a small hammer and placing it in his own thigh holster, Lavi stood up and walked up to her, nudging his head towards the door, "Shall we then."

Kurai slightly glared at him, pointing her index finger on his chest, "Let me make this clear. Just because I asked you to accompany me doesn't mean that you can try any funny business, got it?"

He held his hands up in defense and smiled, "I got it."

"You better," she warned, leaving the room with him following behind her.

~…~

There was silence between the two as they walked along the streets of town. That wasn't anything new since nothing was said when they were leaving headquarters as well.

Every now and then, though, one of them would comment about some observation seen and then the other would reply back. The quietness would start again soon after.

Kurai, starting to feel guilty since _she _invited him in the first place, decided to speak up, "_So_, how are you liking it in the Black Order so far?" She glanced at him after asking her question, just to see that he was already looking at her with a grin on his face.

"It's nice. The place is quite different from what I'm used to. By the way, how'd you end up in the Black Order?" he replied.

She gave him a weird look since he was asking the questions now, ones which were rather sensitive and personal for her. Her eyes looked down as she remained quiet for a few minutes and he watched her carefully.

"I studied under a general for a few years before getting a recommendation from him to become an exorcist. I was twelve at the time," she lowly spoke.

Lavi looked surprised, "Really? You were that young when you took up this role? What was your life like before you knew you were an accommodator?"

"That's none of your business," she immediately retorted, lowering her head more so that he couldn't see her face.

Lavi was taken aback by her defensiveness, hearing the hint of anger in the tone of her voice. Not wanting her to be mad at him, he decided to change the topic.

Resting his hands on the back of his neck, he chuckled, "Sorry about that. Hey, what's the big deal with Kanda hating to be called _Yu_ anyway? It's just a name, right?"

"He just doesn't like to be called that anymore."

Realizing that she knew the reason why, Lavi grinned and nudged her shoulder, "_You _know why, don't you? I bet you were even there! Come on, you can tell me! I promise I won't tell a soul!"

Clenching her fists, Kurai couldn't take it anymore and stopped. He proceeded to do the same, seeing that he angered her even further.

"I can't remember anything, okay!" she yelled, running off immediately.

Lavi tried to catch up to her, but lost sight of her in the crowd. He stopped to look around, scratching the back of his head, "Damn…"

~…~

Kurai ran blindly, not knowing where she was going. Eventually, she turned a corner and stopped, resting her hands on the top of her knees to catch her breath.

While she continued to pant, she looked up and noticed that she was back in the same alleyway where she, Kanda and Lenalee first fought an akuma together.

Kurai shook her head and chuckled, not believing where she was.

She then remembered what happened just moments ago and how she reacted, smacking her head for acting irrationally. She was upset that Lavi was asking her such questions, but the person she was really angry at… was herself.

Kurai stood back up and leaned against the brick wall, letting herself get lost in her thoughts.

For years she felt lost, wondering why the later memories of her time in the Asian Branch of the Black Order, right before she and Kanda left, were missing. A massacre occurred and she didn't know how or why it occurred. People that she knew were either dead or missing. Her master. Friend. All the scientists there. Still, she was glad that she had Kanda with her, so technically she wasn't truly alone.

Another thing, though, that bothered her even before the Asian Branch… was her origin. Unlike Kanda and Alma who were both artificially born, she was born just like any child, at least that is what she presumed. Her mentor told her she wasn't her mother even though they had resemblances and that her real mother and father were dead, but that was all she got from her. Perhaps, maybe, just maybe, she and her master were related some other way.

Why did she lose her memories in the first place? Who was she? These were the questions that irritated her to no end and to which she still didn't figure out. These thoughts were probably the obstacles that Hevlaska was talking about which she needed to overcome.

Getting a headache, she massaged her temples and sighed, pushing herself off the wall, _'First things first. I need to go apologize to Lavi.'_

As soon as she started walking, Kurai saw an attack coming her way and immediately unsheathed her daggers. She faced the attack, noticing that it was a water type and so she placed her weapons in an x formation, "Innocence activate! Blaze barrier!"

The daggers glowed red and a transparent shield of the same color surrounded her just in time as the attack clashed with her force field – smoke was produced instantly.

After the rumbling she felt subsided, she released her barrier and waited for the smoke to dissipate.

She kept her defense up as she heard a maniacal laugh coming from the other side of the smoke.

Once the area was smoke-free, the akuma and exorcist were now staring at the other.

The akuma was a level two, the same level that she fought years ago in the same alley. Unlike the other akuma, which was werewolf-based, this one looked like a shark.

"You akuma like going around these parts, don't you? My friends and I defeated one of your own right in this spot a few years ago and I'll gladly destroy you too," Kurai smirked.

"He was probably a weakling then because I'll defeat you for sure! Whether this was my task for coming here or not, I'll kill you anyway, exorcist!" the akuma yelled before sending a water ball from its mouth towards Kurai.

Kurai charged also and sent two fire streams to cancel the attack, but was surprised to see the akuma right in front of her now.

As it tried to bite her head off, she jumped up high, doing a flip so that she went over the akuma and landed behind it. She quickly turned around and slashed its back, forcing it to stagger forward.

While it was unbalanced, Kurai ran towards the akuma and sent a spinning kick to its side, forcing it against the wall. Debris fell on top of the demon after the crash.

The akuma growled and got back up, leaping on top of the building. It looked down at his opponent with anger, "You'll pay for that, exorcist!"

"That's what they all say! And just what did you mean by "whether this was my task"?" Kurai shouted, rather curious on what the akuma was doing there in the first place.

"Like I said, I don't know! Maybe it was to eat you!" it exclaimed before sending another water ball down her way. She avoided it completely as the water splattered around the ground.

She thought she was victorious once again, but she was wrong.

To her misfortune, multiple copies of the akuma formed exactly like the original from pools of water on the floor made by the akuma, taking note that each were of different sizes. There were five in total.

"Haha, whether you dodged my attack or not doesn't matter! See if you can handle them when their strengths or exactly like mine!"

Kurai grinded her teeth, "Shit."

The clones headed in her direction and began attacking while the female exorcist kept dodging and performing a series of attacks, both physical and elemental. Eventually, she was able to get rid of one with a fire stream and it melted into a puddle. Unfortunately, it reformed again.

She leapt back a few feet and activated her barrier with the clones trying to get through. They would hit the barrier, lose their arms from the rebounded fire, only to have them reform again. The only thing was that the clones grew smaller each time.

While being protected, she tried to think up a strategy on how she was going to defeat all of them when they kept regenerating.

"You can't hide in there forever, exorcist!" the akuma laughed, enjoying the scene.

'_He's right, but there's too many of them! What am I going to do?' _

"Little hammer, big hammer! Extend!" Kurai saw as the top of a familiar looking hammer shot at three of the clones. They turned into one big puddle.

She averted her eyes into the direction where the hammer came from and saw a familiar person run up to her barrier.

"Lavi!" she said, surprised to see him.

It didn't seem he heard her though because he held his hammer back and slammed the weapon onto the rest of the clones which all turned to water near the other puddle, forming a bigger one.

"Hey, thought you needed some help. You all right?" he asked her with a grin. She nodded in reply as she dematerialized her shield. She wouldn't admit it at the moment, but she was glad that he was there.

Before he could ask her anything else, the akuma laughed again, "Don't think you defeated the clones just yet!" Soon, the giant puddle turned into another clone, bigger than the original itself.

"Oh great…" Lavi sighed.

Kurai stared at the massive copy and under it where the puddle formerly was. She eventually figured out what they needed to do and turned to Lavi, "The akuma produces the clones from any source of water on the ground."

"If there's no water, then no more clones," Lavi stated, understanding what she was talking about.

"Yes, but the water came from the akuma's attacks in the first place," she added.

He then gripped his hammer with both hands, "We better act quick then. All right, let's go attack the thing and you stand back once it turns into water again!"

Seeing that Lavi knew what he was doing, she complied with his demand although she was annoyed since she wanted to go through with hers.

"Ready?" he asked her.

"Ready."

Both exorcists headed towards the clone akuma, working together to take down the beast. Lavi made his hammer grow bigger before slamming the weapon on the akuma copy several times which it blocked with its arms.

Kurai shot fire streams, mostly directed to the upper parts of the body. When making contact, there was little effect as small scratches and slices were only produced from her attacks.

Seeing that her attempts were useless, she decided to aim lower and sent fire streams to the legs after avoiding some foot stomps.

She was successful as the clone started falling back and Lavi smacked the gut so that the akuma copy slammed onto the ground, transforming back into water.

The male exorcist then rose his hammer high above him, "Innocence activate!" Several circles appeared as he spun the weapon and hit the seal that was labeled fire, "Fire seal!"

Soon, a giant circle was below him as he slammed his hammer onto the ground, causing fire to encircle him.

Kurai just watched at what was going on, intrigued that Lavi's innocence had a variety of skills, ones she wouldn't have expected to come from the chose of weapon he possessed.

Eventually, the fire disappeared and Kurai saw that there was no longer any water on the ground.

Lavi smirked, placing the hammer over his shoulder while pointing at the akuma, "Just one more to go."

The akuma gritted its teeth before jumping down the building, landing a few feet away from the exorcists.

"Kurai, take a look at the akuma closely," Lavi whispered to her.

She did as he said and saw that the akuma was gasping for breath with its mouth slightly open, "The strain of forming all those clones must have made it tired."

"Which means that we have the advantage. Come on, let's finish this already!" he yelled, firmly gripping his hammer before rushing towards the akuma. Kurai followed suit, sending streams of fire.

The akuma barely dodged the attacks as it leapt out of the way. This left the akuma wide open, allowing Lavi to take the opportunity to slam his hammer, intending to hit the target's face.

The akuma saw what he was doing and tried to avoid impact, but it still got hit on the cheek. After losing some balance, the akuma recovered and let out another water attack, this time to its own feet. Water was everywhere. The shark-like creature laughed, showing its razor sharp teeth.

Kurai knew that the akuma was planning to make more clones and thought up a quick plan to prevent that from happening.

"Innocence level two! Sacred light!" she cried out. As soon as her daggers glowed purple, she threw two ribbons of lightning below the akuma, electrocuting it.

It screamed in utter pain and fell face forward once the electric lights disappeared. The akuma exploded afterwards, not leaving a trace of it behind.

Kurai let out a sigh as she sheathed her daggers. She turned to see Lavi doing the same, seeing the original small form of his hammer. Her eyes widened in astonishment, realizing that the two hammers she saw in different occasions were one in the same.

He made eye contact with her when he was done and smiled, "Well, that was rather interesting."

She shook her head and nodded, "Indeed."

"This area is pretty strange for an akuma to wander around, don't you think?" Lavi mentioned, rubbing the back of his head.

Kurai then remembered something, "The akuma mentioned having a task to complete, but couldn't recall what it was."

"So, what about it? Akumas can be pretty dumb, you know," he said while placing his hands behind his neck.

She rolled her eyes and began to look closely at the environment, "The akuma that I fought here years ago basically said the same thing. I think there's something going on in this alleyway." Understanding what she was saying, he began to look around himself.

They both searched for a few minutes, but saw nothing. Lavi sighed and leaned against the brick wall in a thinking state, "What could be here that would attract akuma?"

Kurai watched her serious looking comrade when she noticed something on the wall beside him – the odd-looking brick that she saw long ago.

Suspicious, she walked over to him, but inspected the brick closely, catching Lavi's attention.

"I don't know what it is, but there is something about this brick," she said, squinting her eyes and holding the bottom of her chin.

He removed himself from the wall to observe it himself, "Hmm, this brick is pretty different from the rest of them. Stand back, I have an idea." Kurai did as he asked and walked back until she was far enough.

Lavi took two steps back and unsheathed his hammer, "Little hammer, big hammer." His innocence grew bigger, only enough so that the handle could be gripped with both hands.

He brought his weapon back and swung it towards the wall, right on the brick. As the smoke cleared, a glowing material could be seen in the hole that Lavi just made – an innocence. He took it in his hand and held it so that Kurai could see it, "Well what do you know! An innocence! And the first one that I found! Err, I mean we found…"

Lavi then walked over and handed the innocence to her.

Kurai just stared at the innocence on the palm of her hand with eyes widened before she shook her head and chuckled, "All this time, there was an innocence right under our noses. It was pretty good at hiding too."

"Yeah, from what I got, the innocence protected itself from akumas by confusing them once they were close enough, making them forget why they were their in the first place and just leave. Pretty useful actually," Lavi deduced while grinning.

She looked at him, blinking a few times, "Wow… and all this time, I thought you were only a player. Who knew that you are this smart?"

"Hey, I take insult to that! I am a Bookman so of course I need to be smart!" he frowned.

She waved off a hand, starting to walk away already, "Yeah, yeah. Good job. Now let's get going. We need to give this to Hevlaska and I guess we can go eat afterwards."

"Hey, Kurai. Hold on a minute," he asked her.

She stopped, and turned her head to face him, "What's up?"

He gave her a small smile, "I won't pry into your business anymore. If you don't want to tell me, then you don't have to. I just wanted to get to know my new comrade better, that's all."

Kurai stared at him before returning the same gesture, "Thank you. I want to apologize though for running off on you when I invited you in the first place." She blushed a little, remembering what she did.

He waved a hand and walked up to her, "It's all right. Like I said, I shouldn't have been prying. Come on, let's go."

She nodded and they both left the alleyway.

~…~

Kurai and Lavi brought the innocence to Komui's office and reported to him what had happened in town. He was shocked that there was an innocence around the area this whole time and no one spotted it. He was glad though that the two exorcists were able to retrieve it.

Afterwards, all three of them went to give the innocence to Hevlaska where she placed it in one of her pods before she went back to her chambers to rest.

Komui then informed the two that there was a "special feast" going on in the dining hall and that they should retrieve Bookman so that he could come.

Soon, all four of them were walking down the hallways, headed to the dining hall.

"You're not that useless at all, apprentice," Bookman declared after he was told of what happened through Lavi.

"Of course I'm not useless, old man! I bet you would have walked by the alleyway and miss it completely! Worse, the innocence could have taken its effects on a panda like you!" Lavi grinned.

"3, 2, 1…" Kurai counted before seeing a red blur fall face first onto the ground. She shook her head afterwards and sighed.

"Stop calling me old!"

"Stop hitting me!"

"Hey, you two. We're here," Komui announced, stopping in front of the door to the dining hall.

The rest did the same and waited as the Branch chief opened the doors, allowing the three of them to go in first.

"WELCOME LAVI AND BOOKMAN!" people in the room shouted. Just like with the other new, incoming exorcists, there was a big banner that welcomed them. Many food and decorations were around the room as well as all employees and the staff members of the science department. Also, in the center of the room, as Kurai predicted, were their new uniforms, which were exorcist jackets. Lenalee also had two coffee mugs in her hands that were made specifically for them.

Kurai couldn't tell the expression on Bookman's face, but Lavi was a different story. She noticed that he looked pretty shocked, one that never experienced an encounter such as this one. She knew this look because she had the same one when they had a party for her.

The look on his face quickly went away and was replaced with a cheerful one as people went to greet him and his mentor.

"Hey Uchiha, stop spacing out like an idiot," she heard a familiar voice say.

Kurai rolled her eyes at the person who approached her, "Only you would insult someone like that, Kanda. Why are you here, anyway? I thought you didn't like parties."

He scowled, "You know I don't. It was Lenalee that dragged me here just now."

She laughed and spun him around before pushing his back, "How about we find some nutritious food for you!"

He protested, saying that he wanted soba noodles, but she wouldn't let him.

~…~

Kurai walked along the hallway after the party, intending to go to her room.

She heard voices as she passed Lavi and Bookman's room. Curious, she stopped to listen.

"Remember, Lavi. Don't get close to any of them. We are only here to collect historical information and nothing more. The people here are nothing more than a hindrance and are part of your first experimental trial on your way to becoming the next Bookman."

"I know, grandpa. I'm just keeping up my alias."

'_Just what are they talking about?'_ she frowned before beginning to panic at hearing the doorknob moving.

Quickly, Kurai leapt back a few feet before walking again, pretending that she just arrived near that area.

The door opened, revealing Lavi who looked surprised, yet happy to see her, "Hey, I was just coming to look for you." He closed the door behind him afterwards.

Kurai stopped in front of him, "What a coincidence that I'm here then. I was just headed to my room. Did you need something?"

He grinned, "I just wanted to thank you for today even though it was most likely to distract me."

She nervously laughed since he already figured out why she took him to town, but raised an eyebrow afterwards, "Why? It was a disaster, really."

Lavi shook his head, "I got to fight alongside you and saw how awesome you could fight. Hopefully we can go on missions together in the future."

"Me too."

"Oh, you looked pretty hot too, by the way," he grinned.

Kurai sighed, "Of course you would think that."

They then heard a shout coming from inside the room, "Lavi!"

"Geez, that panda is so demanding," Lavi groaned, slumping his head forward.

"You should see what he wants then. I better head to my room to sleep," Kurai stated.

"Yeah, I'll see you tomorrow," he replied, turning around to open the door.

"Hey."

Lavi turned his head, looking at her.

"Welcome to the Black Order. I'm glad that we have someone like you here," she said before walking off with no responsive.

He watched as she left, baffled at what just happened before going back to his room.

'_Did I just say that? Especially that last sentence,' _Kurai thought with a blush on her face. She shook her head, not believing that, after seeing Lavi as annoying the whole time, she was starting to see him differently now, but slightly though. His annoyance was still at 99%, but the other 1%, that was something rare to see.

Kurai closed her eyes and smiled, _'I guess he's not such a bad person… sometimes. I'll try to have some tolerance with him. After all, we're comrades now, and will be working together for years to come.'_

* * *

**Wow this was pretty long! Makes up for the long wait though! It took different days for me to finish this chapter and hopefully it was good enough :) I feel that it's kind of confusing though…. Maybe its just my imagine or something? Let me know with your reviews so I can fix it! :D**

**Preview of the next chapter: Kanda, Kurai and Lavi go on their first mission as a team. Let's see how that goes hehe This might actually be broken into two chapters where I'll write both of them first before uploading them!**

**Until next time, my dear readers!**


	8. In the Mind of a Bookman Successor

Chapter 8: In the Mind of a Bookman Successor

**Hey guys! Sorry for the REALLY late upload! Been busy with school and decided on some chapter changes at the last minute as well as having writer's block. Damn writer's block. This chapter was originally going to be a one-shot, but I changed it around and added more stuff before making it into chapter 8.**

**I would like to thank JaytheCow and CatsAreMyJoy for rereading and editing this chapter. YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME! LOVE YOU CUZES! :DD**

**You should also check out their stories, which I beta read for sometimes! ;)**

**JaytheCow's stories:**

**-_What Comes Between Us _(D-Grayman) ~ KandaxOCXTyki**

**-_Bane of the Eternity _(Naruto) ~ NarutoxOC, GaaraxOC and ShikamaruxOC**

**CatsAreMyJoy's story:**

**-_The Possible Impossibility _(Naruto) ~ NarutoxOC, GaaraxOC, ItachixOc, and SasorixOC**

**Anyways, hope you enjoy this! **

**Disclaimer: I do not own D-Grayman.**

* * *

"486, 487, 488, 489. Yup, that's exactly how many cracks there are in the ceiling after counting four times. Damn... I have no life," a certain red head said to no one in particular. He was off-duty, cooping in his room for the time being.

He closed his visible eye and sighed, bored out of his mind. He already did everything he could do while waiting for the chief to give out assignments, which probably wouldn't be anytime soon. Missions were rather slow lately due to the lack of akuma, so the exorcists had more free time for the past few days. They didn't even bother to wear their uniforms, just casual clothing.

After finishing a week's worth of books that Bookman assigned him in a day's time, eating in the dining hall, as well as taking a walk outside, he went back to his room and lied on his bed where he currently was. He even took a nap, the epitome of his relaxation, and that didn't even relieve his boredom.

Yes, _he_, Lavi Bookman Junior, was bored, and that aggravated him. He never thought he'd say this, but he had to go look for some company. The problem for Lavi was, Bookman told him not to go near anyone in headquarters while he was away. This was the main reason why the young bookman was doing his own things and not attempting to find anyone.

The sad thing was, it was just yesterday too when the old man departed...

Flashback

_During that morning, the Bookman exorcist was in his and his master's room, doing some studying at his desk. He heard the door open, but didn't bother to look up because he knew who it was, "Hey Gramps, what's up?"_

_"I've been assigned a research mission in Russia. I'll be leaving right away and will be gone for a week," Bookman informed his apprentice while getting his things prepared._

_"All right... I'll finish this, and then get ready to go…" he said as he turned another page. He blinked a few times after he realized what his mentor just said and looked at him weird, "Wait, what? You're going alone?"_

_"That's right. Don't give me that look. It was bound to happen and this** is** part of your trial."_

_The young man shook his head and looked back down, chuckling, "I was just surprised, is all. You'd think that the chief would have separated us weeks ago, yet it's been two months since we joined the Black Order. Are you going to be all right though, old panda? I'm not going to be around to tend to your elderly needs." _

_He felt pain and pressure on his head, most likely from the old man's wrath, and rubbed his head, "That hurts!"_

_"Humph, how many times do I have to tell you that I'm not old," Bookman said with an irritated tone._

_Sarcastically, he responded, "As long as you're still living..." _

_Bookman let out a snort before putting on his satchel and heading to the door. He stopped in front of it, holding the doorknob, "You have readings to do while I'm gone. I left the stack in the library."_

_The sixteen-year-old sighed, "More reading…"_

"_Also, keep your distance from people while I'm gone, especially those other exorcists. I think you're starting to get attached to them, and I want to remind you of our reason for being here," the old man stated, keeping his eyes straight on the door._

"_What are you talking about? I'm just being in character. There's no need for you to be worried and like you said, we're not always going to be together in the same missions anyway. I'll probably be going to places with them and not you soon enough."_

_Bookman closed his eyes, "Just do as I say, and know that, if you were to have personal attachments, we'll have to leave. Remember that, Lavi." He said no more, opened the door and shut it gently behind him, leaving the apprentice lost in thought._

'_**That kooky old panda doesn't know what he's saying. Of course I can keep to myself all week. It's not like I haven't done it before.'**_

Flashback ended

"Screw this." He couldn't take it anymore. Except for the fact that Bookman was with him the majority of the time, he thought he could be by himself for a few days after doing it for many years. Now, he couldn't even last a day. He needed to find someone to do something with, or, in this Bookman successor's case, bother. It is what his persona does and what he will do so Bookman couldn't argue with that. First, he needed to figure out whom.

"Who to hang out with... Who to hang out with..." he pondered thoroughly. Lenalee was busy tending to her brother, so she was off the list. _Kanda_ was definitely out of the question because Lavi had the nerve of stealing his Innocence the other day, and now he was out to get him.

After crossing out a few more people on his list, a smirk appeared on his face when he decided on the person he was going to find.

Lavi then quickly pushed himself off his bed and out of his room, making sure to close the door behind him.

~. ~

He checked the person's bedroom.

He searched the meditation room.

He went in the dining hall again and even peeked in the training area, taking only a glimpse in case the grouchy Japanese exorcist was there. Unfortunately, he _was_, and all by himself too. He had even noticed Lavi's presence and sent him a death glare, adding more to the red-haired exorcist's distress. The young Bookman ran away quickly, not wanting to get killed.

After searching around headquarters for the past ten minutes, he gave up and went into the library once more, only to find nobody around. Another epic fail.

A frown was on Lavi's face before he sighed in disappointment.

He then instantly noticed the back of a couch on the side that he didn't see before when he was in the library.

_'I'll just rest for a bit… again… before continuing my search,'_ he thought, heading towards the furniture.

Once he did, he became too lazy to walk around it so he kept his hands on the couch and pulled himself over onto the front.

"Ow! What's your problem, Lavi?" yelled something under him after colliding himself onto something hard, mainly the side of his head and shoulder.

"Sorry about that. I assumed there was no one here," he apologized with his eye shut, rubbing his sore spots.

He then propped himself on his elbows and opened his eye again, only to see the person he was looking for, Kurai, was there all along.

She looked angry as she too rubbed her head in pain, but Lavi didn't mind because it made her look cute.

"Oh, hi Rai. I was just looking for you. You were here the whole time?" he grinned.

"Yes... I was here all day."

Lavi was very surprised, "Really? You should have told me! I was here earlier!"

Kurai let out a cough and turned her eyes away from him for a second, "I know. I saw you. You were actually here before me."

"WHAT? Rai... why didn't you say anything?" he whined loudly, not noticing that his face was basically close-up to hers.

Apparently, _she _did, and began to blush as she turned her gaze to the side again, "Because you looked serious with your reading and I didn't want to disturb you! Now would you mind getting off me? I'm getting squished."

Lavi didn't understand, blinking a few times. He then looked down and saw that Kurai was lying on her side with her back and head resting against the armchair. The thing was, she was trapped under him and couldn't move.

His emerald eye made direct contact with her crimson ones again, a pout beginning to form on his face, "Aww, are you sure? I'm pretty comfortable and I think you're liking it since you could have just pushed me off in the first place."

"Lavi... I could kick you where it hurts at any moment… and I will do it," she informed, and showed that she was serious by getting her leg ready to move upwards where his crotch was.

Not wanting that to happen, he began to swiftly, yet carefully, get off the couch, so as not to hurt her, "I'm moving! I'm moving! No need to go that far!" He finally stood up, adjusting his shirt and fixing his pants.

Right after he wasn't on top of her anymore, Kurai sat up straight. She marked a page on the book she held which Lavi didn't see before and placed it on the armrest so she could stretch.

"You can sit down now. I just didn't want you squishing me."

Lavi shook his head from his apparent dream-like state and sat himself right next to her.

He watched as Kurai fixed her hair and reopened her book again. She only skimmed through it before breaking the silence, "So... you were looking for me?" Her curious eyes turned to him.

Lavi remembered why he was there in the first place and grinned, "Oh yeah... I was just looking for you because I was bored. Want to go do something or go out somewhere?"

Her head fell down, not expecting that at all. She then gave him a dumbfounded look, "Seriously? Why don't you go find someone else to bother?!"

He smiled cheekily, "Because, after careful thinking, I deduced that you're the most reasonable person out of everyone else in the Black Order… You should be honored that I thought highly of you."

"I am _so _touched. Now can you leave? I don't want to leave this spot since I'm currently in the process of reading."

"Can I at least hang here with you then? I have nothing else to do."

She sighed before looking back at her book, "Whatever, stupid Bookman. You can stay here. Just don't be so troublesome like you usually are, got it?"

"Thanks Rai! Can I use your lap as a pillow though? I'm tired."

Kurai massaged her temples, "Oh for the love of… _What _did I just say?"

"_Please_!"

"Hell no."

"Aww, come on! There's little space on the couch and I don't want a stiff neck tomorrow! I promise to keep still and not be a nuisance," he asked with a puppy dog look.

She rolled her eyes, "Fine... only because you'll complain about your neck all day tomorrow."

"Yay! Thank you!" He immediately leaned the side of his head down onto Kurai's lap, moving his upper body and legs around until he was more comfortable on the couch.

Satisfied, he closed his eye, "This is nice... and you're so warm... can we do this often?"

Her cheeks reddened as she looked down at him, "Don't get used to this... I'm finding somewhere else to relax next time…" she said before going back to reading.

"I'll stay here as long as I can then..." he spoke in a whisper, totally peaceful. Soon, he was off to sleep with a low breathing that Kurai was able to hear.

She sighed into her book before holding it in one hand so she can smooth his red hair with her fingers, "Oh Lavi…"

~. ~

When beginning to wake up, Lavi let out a yawn and turned himself so that he was lying on his back, looking up at the ceiling. What he didn't anticipate seeing was the sleeping figure of Kurai above him, making him suddenly remember that he fell asleep on her and jolt up quickly into a sitting position.

He looked at her again and smiled – Kurai's arms were folded against the armchair as her head rested on top with a book in her hand. Suddenly, she was shifting a bit and Lavi saw her move her legs up onto the couch, curling them close to her before keeping still again.

He chuckled while standing up, stretching his arms and legs. Looking out the window, he noticed that the moon was already up.

'_Wow, I've been asleep all afternoon… and it's pretty late now,' _he thought while rubbing the back of his head before looking at Kurai again, _'I wonder when she fell asleep… oh well, I'd better take her to her room.' _

Lavi walked a few steps until he was in front of her, removing the book she was reading from her hand and onto the couch. Next, he gently moved his hands under her back and below her legs so that he could carry her without disrupting her sleep.

He was successful and lifted her up in bridal position pretty easily, her head on his shoulder – that changed when she began to stir though. She moved her arms so that they were around his neck and unexpectedly placed her face in between the crook of his shoulder and head.

Lavi blushed a little, but composed himself because he didn't want to drop her. _She'd _kill him if that were to happen.

Not wanting to waste any more time, he started walking out of the library and towards her room, which, fortunately, was on the same floor they were on.

~…~

Lavi finally made it inside her room after only a little bit of struggling.

Ok, to be honest, it was actually a hassle. The door to her room was locked and he had to stealthily and discreetly look for her key through her clothes while trying to keep her from falling.

The fact that she was sleeping and could wake up at any moment made it even more embarrassing as he was feeling all over her body for the small metal material.

After about two minutes, he wanted to kick himself because it was just in the pocket of her hoodie, which was where he should have checked in the first place. He was so glad that everyone was sleeping already, or else they'd call him a pervert, not that they don't think of him that way already. Now, if she were awake, that would have been a very _different _scenario, and he was grateful that it didn't occur.

Lavi glided across Kurai's room and placed her gently under her covers after moving it out of the way. He instantly pulled away and froze when she adjusted herself in a comfortable position. He sighed in relief when she went back to sleep. Plus, he was relieved that he didn't have to change her because she was wearing sweatpants, tank top and sleeveless hoodie already. Even though he liked cute women, Kurai being one of them, he was a gentleman when it came to situations like this. He wouldn't dare try to take advantage of her when she was in a vulnerable state. He knew his limits, and hated those kinds of men who would do such a thing.

Thinking that he wouldn't be leaving anytime soon, the young man decided to sit down on the side of her bed for a minute to take a close look at the young woman before him. There were strands of hair covering her face, so he brushed them away in order to see her clearly.

'_So pretty… then again, she always has…' _he thought while stroking her hair softly now.

Kurai, and also Lenalee, were different from the rest of the girls that he had observed over the years of his travels after he became Bookman's apprentice. Most girls play with dolls, go to school and then, around the age of Kurai and Lenalee, would look for men to court them, marry them and have children with. Some would even have jobs, not just being stay-home wives or mothers that were satisfying.

For the two female exorcists though, their lives were much different, having been in their roles as accommodators of Innocence since they were very young before becoming fully-fledged exorcists. Kurai, who received her Innocence at the age of eight, previously stayed at the Asian Branch, and had been trained by two generals, one of which was deceased already. Lenalee herself was found to be an accommodator when she was six and was brought to the European Branch immediately. They basically had to grow up fast to make other people's lives better because only they could get rid of the akumas in the world, seeing how they were only few in numbers. There was no time for being normal.

How'd he know such personal information in the first place? Of course, since he was a recorder of history, he looked through their files, which weren't as detailed as he'd hope. Searching through Kanda's file too, he only got that he was from the Asian branch just like Kurai and had a bad temper. He figured that they had classified files as well that explained more about them, but, most likely, he couldn't get access to them.

The bookman in him, the _real_ him,was returning as he sighed bitterly at the thought of children being used for a battle, _'Wars are so pointless… And humans are so stupid for starting them in the first place.' _

One by one, exorcists are just going to be disposed like _all_ soldiers who fight, and would be forgotten in history, for they are just inks on paper. Most have already been forgotten because of the long war that has been going on for thousands of years. Seeing how they were up against a species not of their own, he felt pity for them, having some experience since he was one now due to his current alias as Lavi – the latest out of forty-nine after he had long denounced his birth name when deciding to become part of the Bookman clan.

_Lavi_, the exorcist who was head over heels for cute women, loved to play pranks on and bother people and was friendly More importantly though, he showed care for his comrades and friends, like he was just doing for Kurai.

It was Lavi who had carried her to her room.

It was Lavi sitting on her bed right now, watching her as she slept while lost in thought.

It was Lavi who had become bored that day and wanted to spend some time with her, even if it was just taking a nap with her around.

And also, it was Lavi who leaned down to kiss her forehead, told her good night and had gotten up to leave the room.

It was all Lavi, because the real him was forbidden to show such care and affection or even have friendships to begin with, for personal attachments weren't allowed for Bookmen.

"Bookmen have no need for a heart. We only live to record the true history of the world and do what is necessary to achieve such information, that is all,"The Bookman Lavi said as he shut Kurai's room behind him. While going to his room, he continued to repeat those words in his mind and smirked, feeling that he _did_ prove his mentor wrong.

Unknown to himself though, somewhere deep in the back of his mind, he did something that he hadn't done before after becoming part of the Bookman clan– he began to question himself.

'_Was it Lavi, or the **real me**, who had done all those actions?'_

Maybe, just maybe, his life as an exorcist… will change him.

~…~

Kurai opened her eyes the moment Lavi left her room and sent a small glare in the direction where he would have been standing with his strange behavior.

Actually, she woke up when he was looking for her key, but pretended to continue sleeping since she was embarrassed. In the first place, he was carrying her and was touching her all over her body. Normally, she would have called out to him and obviously would have punched him, but she found it rather sweet that he brought her to her room. And that sweet act was the reason why she let just let him be.

After he had brought her to her bed, she wondered why he didn't leave yet, and began to panic when she felt some pressure on her mattress, as well as something moving her hair aside. She remained calm after realizing that he wasn't going to do anything, and a few minutes later, lips were pressed against her forehead, words of good night were whispered and the pressure was lifted as quiet footsteps began to fade away.

Kurai knew that Lavi was saying something as he left her room, but all she could make out were some words – Bookmen, heart, history, necessary and information. It was just like last time when she accidently eavesdropped on him and Bookman.

She wondered about the life of a Bookman, only knowing vaguely about them, but knew it wasn't her business and tried not to think too much of it. Still, Lavi was her friend and comrade now. She did care for him, no matter how irritating he could be the majority of the time.

She shook her head while closing her eyes, deciding to just go back to sleep before a small smile appeared on her face, "Ninety percent annoying, ten percent okay."

* * *

**Gah, Lavi's mind is so complicated to write… then again, everyone's mind is complicated. Let me know what you think with your reviews! ;)**

**By the way, I'll try not to take long in updating again, at least for the next few chapters!**

**Also, thank you to those who favorite and followed and these people who reviewed: akkichan1, SapphirePeanut45, RedtheAmazing, JaytheCow, CatsAreMyJoy, LadyIslandRose and Maqtyax. **


	9. Trio Mission with Kanda and Lavi Part 1

**Chapter 9: Trio Mission with Kanda and Lavi Part 1**

**Sorry for another late update! Looks like I might be updating once a month for now, which I hope won't be permanent. I decided to switch the chapters around again so the previous chapter nine is now chapter eleven and this from chapter ten to chapter nine, but you guys probably don't care as long as you get your chapters up haha**

**Anywayz, hope you enjoy this! ;)**

**Thanks to these people who reviewed the previous chapter:**

**JaytheCow, CatsAreMyJoy, RedTheAmazing, Lady Island Rose and aalc95**

**Disclaimer: I do not own D-Grayman.**

* * *

"All right, first mission without having the Panda around! This is going to be great!" Lavi exclaimed from his seat on one side of the train compartment.

Across from him, Kanda groaned in annoyance and continued to ignore his existence by looking out the window. Toma looked up and smiled under the mask of his before going back to reading.

Kurai, who was sitting beside Lavi, didn't say or respond in any way, too preoccupied with her work at the moment. She had two long, thin needles in hand as she was forming patterns with an orange cloth material. The amount that she had finished so far reached across her lap.

The red head frowned at the lack of reaction, "None of you are any fun!"

There was no response at that time either.

He sighed and leaned himself against the wall of his seat. He kept his head supported by the palm of his hand, deciding to keep quiet. After a few minutes, he was bored and scooted closer to Kurai, watching her, "What are you doing?"

Not looking up, she answered him, "I'm knitting."

"Yeah, I can see that. I meant, what are you knitting?"

"Don't know. Maybe a blanket… or just a scarf… something like that."

"How come you're making it in the first place?"

"I was bored in headquarters."

"And you're just continuing it now?"

"Yup."

"Oh, well it looks pretty good so far. Is it for someone special?" he questioned with a smirk, nudging her side with his elbow.

Kurai sighed, not in the mood to continue anymore. She put away the needles and the unfinished work in her bag. She then glared at Lavi with crossed arms, "Why do you have to be so nosy and butt into other people's business?"

He shrugged, "It's what Bookmen do."

Kanda snorted, "The answer was pretty obvious, boke."

She averted her eyes at him instead, "Shut up, Kanda. I wasn't asking you."

"Che…" he muttered.

"Don't you _che_ me, sakana!"

Kanda let out a growl and sent a murderous look in her direction, "Stop calling me that!" They were both staring at each other intensely now with sparks forming.

"I hope that none of you will be acting childish… especially _two _certain people again," Toma warned, still looking down at his book.

"We are _not_ children!" they angrily protested at the same time.

Toma rolled his eyes, "Sure."

Lavi just looked back and forth between them in amusement, for it was the first time that he saw the two interact together since they've never actually had a mission with all three of them together, not even with Lenalee yet.

He couldn't help but feel a little mad though, and he wasn't sure why….

~…~

"Stupid rabbit! Give it back now!"

"I don't have it, Yu!"

"You were the one messing with my hair when I was sleeping! And don't call me that!"

Kurai's eyes fluttered open as the sudden yelling woke her up. When her vision adjusted, she could see Toma sleeping while her comrades were nowhere in sight, but she heard their voices from outside their compartment.

The door suddenly slammed open and she saw a red blur heading her way. It went behind her suddenly and had a hold on her.

She turned her head and frowned, "What did you do this time?"

A nervous Lavi scratched the back of his head, "Umm, well…"

Another blur entered the room, and answered the question for her, "That stupid rabbit took my hair tie and I want it back!"

Kurai looked at the direction of the voice, seeing that it was Kanda who was in between the doorway. He looked pissed off and his hair was down, flowing around from running so fast… most likely from chasing Lavi around.

"I told you that I don't have it!" the one hiding behind her protested.

"Don't think that you can use her as a safeguard every time!"

"Well, it's working now, isn't it?" Lavi fearfully laughed, peeking from his _shield's _shoulder.

Kurai sighed and shook her head while Kanda began to growl and go towards them, his hand gripping the handle of Mugen tightly.

Before he could unsheathe his innocence, Kurai looked through her bag quickly and grabbed what she was looking for. She held her hand out to her friend, causing him to stop what he was doing and see that she had another hair tie in her palm.

He loosened his grip and stared at her, "What are you doing?"

Since he wasn't making any move to take the hair accessory from her hand, she threw it at him and he immediately caught it with ease.

"Here. I don't want to get kicked out of the train because of you guys. It would be a pain to have to walk the rest of the way," she stated.

Kanda didn't argue back and just glared once more at Lavi before leaving the train compartment again, mumbling a 'thank you' and something about hating a certain rabbit.

Lavi sighed in relief as soon as the door closed and the other Japanese exorcist was out of sight, "Thank goodness! I thought he was going to kill me…"

"I should have just let him…" Kurai told him with crossed arms and a glare directed at him.

He didn't hear her though, standing up from the seat with a triumphant smirk as he held up his hand with a hair tie in it, "Haha, I finally have something to use against Kanda! OW!" He held his aching stomach in pain after it was punched and grimaced at the person who did it.

She didn't seem affected as she looked at him in disbelief, "You really want a death sentence, don't you? You steal Kanda's hair tie and play with his hair while he is sleeping. Afterwards, you refuse to give it back and deny that you even have it… _then_ you go use me as a meat shield. Is there something wrong with you? I'm surprised that you even lasted in the Black Order for four months since you arrived without dying from Kanda's wrath."

While rubbing the back of his head he chuckled, "It's just fun to see his reaction."

She shook her head and faced the other way, closing her eyes, "I'm going back to sleep since we still have another hour or two to go. If you get in trouble again, don't expect me to help you out."

"I got it," he said, laughing.

Kurai reopened her eyes, "Oh and come near me in any way and I'll beat the crap out of you."

That time, Lavi gulped and slowly walked backwards towards the compartment door, "I think… I'll just… go see if there's something to eat!" Right when his back hit the door, he opened it quickly and closed it before rushing in one direction.

"Three… two… one," she counted before seeing Lavi's figure pass by in the other direction. He embarrassingly waved at her since he accidently went the wrong way – Kanda went the way he was going, and there was no food court there either – before he was out of sight.

Kurai shook her head and turned her gaze to Toma who surprisingly was still sleeping, even after all the racket that was going on.

She sighed, and made herself comfortable once more, drifting off to sleep, _'From thirty back down to twenty-five percent okay…'_

~…~

After getting to their destination, they got out of the train and began to walk on the path leading to the village in the countryside of Italy where it was said an innocence was.

"So what's the scoop of the mission?" Lavi asked, resting his hands behind the back of his neck. He was standing on one side of Kurai with Kanda on the other since he didn't want to be near him at the moment. Toma was walking right beside the grouchy exorcist.

"Same as usual, baka usagi. We search the area for suspicions of innocence and kill akuma that get in our way. It's as simple as that. Don't ask such mediocre questions," Kanda explained like it was obvious.

Lavi frowned, but didn't say anything while Kurai just shook her head at her old friend.

"We're here," Toma informed at the sight of their destination just meters away. They all became silent, continuing on until they stopped in front of the entrance.

"Let's split so we can end this quickly. I don't want to be here any longer than we should," Kanda stated, crossing his arms.

His statement made Lavi all cheerful and automatically raise his hand, "I want Kurai as my partner!" Said female exorcist just rolled her eyes at him.

"Che, I _meant_ individually, but you can do whatever you want as long as you stay out of my way," the Japanese man scoffed before going on ahead.

"I think I'll go by myself too. We should rendezvous back here after we're done with our search," Toma said.

"That's fine," Kurai replied to him before cupping her hands around her mouth, shouting in Kanda's direction, "Hey Kanda! You hear that? Meet up back here when you're done!"

"I heard!" he yelled before he turned a corner from a house and became out of sight.

"I'm going to head off now. Be careful, you two." With that, the finder left to search around the outskirts of the village, leaving Lavi and Kurai alone.

"So, I guess you just want to go by yourself too?" Lavi assumed, rubbing the back of his head and looking away from her.

"It doesn't matter to me whether I go by myself or not," she shrugged, not wanting to imply that she actually felt bad for him, only a little though.

Lavi looked surprised before a grin went on his face, "Really? Let's go then!" He grabbed her hand and headed into the village, opposite the direction where Kanda went.

'_Gah, I should have just said that I wanted to go alone! Stupid Lavi for making me feel sorry for him…' _She thought while getting dragged by her annoying comrade.

Lavi eventually let her go so that they could go walk around, asking people if anything strange was going on. So far, people said everything was fine, except… those people seemed a bit weird themselves.

"Ma'am, has there been any strange occurrences going on lately?" Kurai asked another villager heading in their direction.

The woman had a creepy smile on her face, "No, everything's normal! Nothing's wrong!"

"Uh, ok. Thank you for your time," Kurai politely said with a forceful smile. A suspicious look was replaced as soon as the lady went on her way though.

"Something's up. That was the fourth person with the same behavior," she deduced.

"I agree. Notice the people that are indoors. They're acting strange as well," Lavi mentioned, being serious now.

Her eyes averted to several directions, checking out some houses. He was right. There were some people peeking out of their houses through the windows, like they were trying to hide from something.

"Looks like we have something to report. Let's head back now," Kurai stated before turning around and walking off to the meeting spot with Lavi catching up to her.

~…~

"Kanda… Kanda… are you there? Answer me already, sakana!" Kurai yelled into her golem. She growled while impatiently tapping her foot on the ground with crossed arms, "What's taking him so long? It's already been two hours… Plus, it's night time already."

"I'm sure he's fine, Miss. He's Kanda after all," Toma tried to assure her. He was the first to arrive in the rendezvous area after hearing noises coming from forest. It sounded like children, he said, and went back right away to let the exorcists know.

Kurai took a deep breath and sighed, calming down, "You're right. It'll take a lot to kill that guy anyway." _'I would know…' _she thought quietly to herself, beginning to remember the past again. She put her golem back in her bag since it wasn't being useful at the moment.

A few more minutes passed and, still, he didn't show up.

"I'll just take a quick look around," the finder stated before walking somewhere.

She just sighed agitatedly before feeling a hand go on her shoulder. She got out of her thoughts and turned her head to see Lavi grinning at her, "Don't worry too much! Knowing Yu, we just have to listen for a grouchy voice spewing out insults!"

He then removed his hand and took a few steps back, putting on a face that Kanda would make and started talking like him, "Hey, you with the face! Keep looking at me like that and I'll smite you with Mugen, my awesome sword!"

Kurai held a hand to her mouth as she began to stifle a laugh, "I don't think Kanda would say it exactly like that…"

Lavi just shrugged, but continued to grin, "Close enough. It got you to laugh, right?"

She stopped her giggling, realizing what he just did before smiling at him, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," he answered before a look of fear was on his face.

Before she could ask what was wrong, Lavi took a hold of her and they both fell back onto the ground.

Kurai saw black, and for a minute, she thought that she went unconscious.

"Are you all right?" She heard someone say from beneath her, causing her to comprehend that her eyes were only shut tightly. Slowly, she opened them, staring back at emerald.

'_When did I close my eyes?' _she wondered puzzlingly before turning red from noticing that she was on top of him in an awkward position with his arms were wrapped around her securely with her hands resting against his chest, _'And __**why**__ are we on the floor like this?!' _

"Uh, um, yeah," she answered before pushing herself off him to stand up after he loosened his arms from her.

When he too was standing, she punched him in the shoulder.

"Ow! What was that for this time?!" he cried.

"Why'd you go and do that anyway?" Kurai asked him, anger and confusion expressed on her face.

"Because of that…" he said before pointing towards something behind her.

She turned and saw a bunch of crates on the ground that was once piled neatly near the wall, "What the hell?"

"Exactly what I thought. I saw them start to lose balance and pushed ourselves out of the way, as well as fixed our position so that I hit the ground," Lavi explained seriously, walking where they were originally standing to analyze the crates.

Kurai was dumbfounded and blinked a few times, "Oh, well thank you then."

He cheekily smiled at her, "As if I'd let my sexy comrade get hurt in my presence."

"A thank you is all you're getting, just so you know," she stated, trying to keep her cool as a blush was starting to appear on her face.

Lavi chuckled before they heard footsteps heading in their direction. Turning their heads, they saw Toma stopping in front of them.

"What happened? I heard a crash and came running back," he said while catching his breath.

"We're all right. There was just an accident," Kurai clarified.

"I don't think this was an accident," Lavi started to say, catching the attention of the two.

He moved the crates around a bit before standing up, looking down at them, "There was no wind for these boxes to move on their own accord. Plus, they are sturdy enough to stay as they were. The only explanation is that somebody must have pushed them on us purposely."

Kurai thought carefully about his words, "That makes sense, especially since the people in this village are acting strange. The question is… who was it?"

"It could be anyone since all the villagers are acting strange. Plus, there isn't anyone around right now," Toma suggested.

"No, the _main _question is where the person is hiding right now," Lavi corrected them.

She gave him a weird look, "Wouldn't the person have left already?"

He shook his head, "He or she is probably watching us right now to keep an eye on us. Trust me."

"Look, over there!" the finder exclaimed.

Lavi and Kurai turned to see two kids, both young boys, staring at them for behind a house.

"See?" he grinned at her, nudging her with his elbow.

She rolled her eyes, "Whatever, stupid all-knowing Bookman."

Seeing that they were caught, the children began to run away.

"Hey, get back here!" the red-haired exorcist shouted before chasing after them, followed by Kurai and Toma. They tailed the kids all over the village and eventually lost sight of them, even if they were three against two. They stopped to catch their breaths and think of what to do next.

Toma panted, "I'm thinking they're some of the children that I was hearing earlier when I was in the forest."

"Then maybe they know what the hell's going on around here… too bad they're fast as lightning," Lavi complained.

"How are we going to get them? And even if we do, I don't think they'll talk," Kurai mentioned.

Lavi was deep in thought for a minute before he smirked, "Just follow my lead."

~…~

"I don't see them…" Kurai whispered as all three of them were keeping an eye out for the kids. She and Lavi were hidden near the side of a house with Toma across from them in another area so that they could see from both directions.

"Just wait! Now quiet down!"

She glared at the back of his head, which he felt she was doing, so he looked back with a nervous smile, "Please don't kill me…"

Her gaze softened as she looked down with a sigh, "Sorry, I'm just wondering where Kanda could be. Something must have happened to him."

A look of surprise was on his face before he let out a small chuckle and turned his head straight again, "You and him must be very close then…"

"He was one of the first friends that I've had… and I don't intend on losing him too…" she quietly murmured.

He would have asked her what she meant by that, but he saw Toma waving at him and remembered what he was supposed to be doing.

Lavi saw a small part of a ground open, and cautiously coming out was one of the children they were currently after.

"So that's where they've been… hiding underground," he said, catching Kurai's attention.

"I say we just follow them and see where they go. Maybe we'll find out why the villagers are acting weird, and also where Kanda is," she proposed.

Lavi grinned at her, "That's exactly what I was going to say."

"Just shut up and pay attention, idiot!"

He pouted, "Don't I get any praise for my previous hard work and intelligence?"

"Sure, you can get a reward when we're done," Kurai sarcastically replied.

"Ok! I'll be holding you to that then!" Lavi smirked before watching the other kid getting out of the hole next.

"What?!" she said in astonishment, not being serious of her former statement, but since he wasn't responding anymore, she didn't press on it further for the moment since they had a mission to fulfill.

After both of the children reclosed the hole, they started running to the back entrance of the village and into the woods.

"Come on!" Lavi ordered as he, Kurai and Toma went into the woods after them. They followed the rustling movements before hearing noises. There were many sounds of laughter, but even they weren't as loud as a familiar voice that the three recognized.

"YOU STUPID KIDS! WHEN I GET DOWN FROM HERE, THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY!"

"That sounds like Kanda!" Kurai shouted.

Lavi smirked, "Looks like we found him! Let's go!"

They went in the direction of the sounds and began to see a light that was getting brighter and brighter. Finally, they got to a clearing, but froze at what they were seeing.

Kanda was tied upside down with a rope, hanging from under a tree, violently struggling to get free as about ten children were circling around him, throwing taunts at him with one of them poking him with Mugen. A small bonfire was nearby, which was the light they saw from afar.

"HEY KID, KEEP ON POKING ME WITH MY SWORD AND I'LL CUT YOU INTO PIECES WHEN I GET IT BACK!"

Toma sighed, Kurai face-palmed before massaging her temples and, last but not least, Lavi laughed hysterically to the point that he fell to the floor, holding his stomach in pain from the sight in front of them.

* * *

**Haha, Kanda gets bested by kids! How embarrassing! See if Lavi will let him down in the next chapter or just leave him there! I might edit this again if I find something wrong with it, but I'll let you know. Also, if there is something that any of you readers notice wrong, let me know too! Until next time!**

**Please review! X)))**


End file.
